UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 

of 

ANDREW  JACKSON. 


6021          8 


ANDREW   JACKSON 

AT    THE    HERMITAGE,    183O.  FROM    A    PAINTING     BY    EARL 


LIFE  AND  TIMES 


—  OF  — 


ANDREW  JACKSON 


Soldier  =St  at  esman=  President 


A.  S.  COLYAR, 

NASHVILLE,  TENN. 


rOLUME  I. 


NASHVILLE,  TENN. 

PRESS  OF  MARSHALL  &  BRUCE  COMPANY, 


COPYRIGHT 

BY  A.  S.  COLYAR 

1904 


PREFACE 


18G3I3 


PREFACE. 

1AHIS    book  was  written  under  a  sense  of  a  double 
duty,  which  some  American  citizen  should  perform 
—  that  of  giving  a  true  life  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
which  would  itself  be  a  refutation  and  an  exposure  of  the 
wrongs  done  this  great  American  citizen. 

With  this  simple  statement,  I  refer  the  reader  for  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  subject,  to  "Why  I  Wrote  the  Life  and 
Times  of  Andrew  Jackson." 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


VOLUME  I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Entrance  into  life  sadly  and  painfully  obscure — Never  saw  his 
father — Did  not  know  in  what  State  he  was  born — Many  spiteful 
books  written  about  him  bring-  a  feeling  of  resentment — Parton 
and  Sumner  as  biographers  have  dishonored  him  —  Shall  the 
record  made  go  to  posterity  without  correction  ? 

CHAPTER  II. 

His  lineage  shadowy;  Irish  or  Scotch-Irish — Nothing-  behind  his 
grandfather,  killed  at  Carrickfergus — The  mother  started  to  walk 
to  South  Carolina,  stopped  on  the  way,  and  Andrew  Jackson  was 
born — Family  buried  in  unknown  graves — The  mother  as  a  nurse 
in  hospitals. 

CHAPTER  III. 

When  Jackson  came  to  Tennessee  he  found  the  heroes  of  the  Ala- 
mance  and  King's  Mountain  there — The  first  battle  of  the  Revo- 
lution was  not  Lexington  and  Concord,  but  the  battle  of  the 
Alamance,  in  North  Carolina — The  first  democratic  government 
was  formed  on  the  Watauga,  in  what  is  now  Tennessee. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Parton's  gossip  about  Jackson's  boyhood  exposed— Made  a  Major 
General  in  the  United  States  Army  when  he  had  not  been  a 
Lieutenant — His  business  habits — His  fidelity  in  public  office — 
His  fight  with  bullies  at  Gal  latin — His  growth  in  education  from 
observation,  not  at  school — His  power  as  a  letter  writer — His  grace 
and  dignity  of  manner. 

CHAPTER  V. 

His  record  as  a  constitution  maker — His  record  in  the  lower  house 
of  Congress — His  first  speech  in  full — Accomplished  what  he  went 
to  do  and  resigned — Then  in  the  Senate  and  resigned — Judge  in 
Supreme  Court,  but  resigned. 


xiv  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Colonel  Benton  draws  his  picture  sketch — How  he  met  difficulties 
and  overcame  them — The  offices  he  resigned — How  Jackson  failed 
to  be  appointed  by  the  Government  when  he  was  greatly  needed 
— How  he  proved  his  worth — Jackson's  promptness  in  raising  an 
army — Colonel  Carroll. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Jackson's  friends  and  enemies  reveal  two  classes — Next  he  Jackson- 
ized  the  country— Colonel  Benton's  knowledge  of  Jackson  through 
life — The  one  vote  that  did  so  much  for  Jackson — Cartwright  and 
Blackburn,  the  great  preachers,  as  friends  of  Jackson. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Jackson  ordered  to  raise  an  army  and  protect  the  frontier — British 
then  claiming  everything;  victories  had  made  them  haughty — 
London  papers  on  war — Ministers  at  Ghent  alarmed — Napoleon's 
capitulation  sent  Wellington's  forces  to  United  States — Hence 
Jackson  conquered  the  world's  conquerors. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Jackson's  close  touch  with  his  men — Issues  most  extraordinary 
orders  to  army — Correspondence  with  officers — Jackson's  dispatch 
concerning  situation  in  Indian  stronghold — Kindness  to  the  poor, 
famished  Indians. 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  correspondence  between  Governor  Blount  and  General  Jack- 
son— Jadkson  refuses  to  return  to  Tennessee,  and  raises  a  new 
army. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  excursion — Jackson's  report  to  General  Pinckney— Was  a  Major 
General  and  commanding  Tennessee  militia,  reporting  to  United 
States  officer— Battle  of  Emuckfau  and  Enotachopoc— General 
Coffee  wounded — Jackson  and  his  company  of  officers — Starva- 
tion' and  mutiny,  but  no  retreat  for  Jackson. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  battle  of  the  Horse  Shoe— Sketch  of  the  life  of  Sam  Houston, 
including  Governor  Houston's  letter  resigning  the  office  of  Gov- 
ernor. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Jackson  reaches  the  holy  ground— An  exciting  scene  with  Weather- 
ford,  the  Indian  chief— A  sketch  of  Davy  Crockett,  with  facts 
about  the  awful  massacre  at  the  Alamo. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xv 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Ending  of  the  Creek  campaign — Jackson  made  a  Major  General  in 
the  United  States  Army — The  results  of  this  campaign — Alabama 
historian  on  the  fighting  quality  of  the  Indians. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Persistent  refusal  of  General  Jackson  to  accept  civic  honors;  his 
genius  preeminently  military — Tennesseans  recognize  this,  but 
the  United  States  Government  remains  long  unconvinced — The 
Creek  campaign  and  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  1812  finally  result 
in  removing  prejudice  at  Washington,  and  Jackson  is  made 
Major  General  in  the  regular  army. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Great  diplomatic  skill  shown  in  drawing  up  the  Creek  treaty — 
Scholarly  correspondence  with  Secretary  of  War  Armstrong  and 
the  Spanish  Governor  of  Louisiana — With  skill,  independence 
and  judgment  Jackson  arranged  for  and  conducted  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans  pending  delayed  instructions  from  Washington. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Jackson's  indomitable  will,  invincible  courage  and  power  to  inspire 
his  men  alone  made  possible  a  successful  campaign  in  the  South 
— For  this  alone  he  deserves  a  monument  from  the  nation — The 
little-known  battle  of  Mobile — Jackson's  characteristic  modesty 
gives  credit  to  his  officers  and  soldiers. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  gallant  defense  of  Fort  Bowyer — The  defeat  of  the  British  on 
land  and  water— Its  effects  far-reaching,  even  influencing  the 
reasonable  terms  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent — The  attack  on  Pensa- 
cola— Jackson's  expressed  willingness  to  personally  bear  the 
possible  disapproval  of  his  tardy  government. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  most  complete,  powerful  and  hitherto  successful  naval  force 
that  Great  Britain  could  furnish  prepared  to  attack  New  Orleans 
— The  mixed  population  of  the  city  offer  no  aid  to  Jackson  until 
his  powerful  appeal  reconciles  the  disaffected  elements — The 
victory  at  New  Orleans  only  made  possible  by  the  Tennessee 
troops. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Jackson  reaches  New  Orleans — Carroll  and  Coffee  coming  with  five 
thousand  three  hundred  Tennesseans — Jackson's  presence  in 


xvi  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

New  Orleans  inspires  confidence — How  he  dealt  with  the  delayed 
elements — Martial  law. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Lieutenant  Jones  with  a  small  force  fights  so  gallantly  that, 
though  defeated,  the  defense  will  live  in  history — Coffee  and 
Carroll  sent  for — "  Don't  stop  till  you  reach  me,"  said  Jackson — 
Coffee  makes  a  phenomenal  march  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
in  two  days — Major  H.  H.  Overton  given  command  of  Fort  Phil- 
lips—Unparalleled night  battle  of  December  23. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Jackson,  touched  with  a  genius  of  war,  brought  relief — How  the 
night  battles  shocked  the  British  army — Nolte's  story  about  the 
cotton  bales  a  falsehood;  no  cotton  bales  used — Jackson  ready  for 
the  fight  on  the  27th  of  December — Took  some  rest  after  four  days 
and  nights  without  rest — The  battle  of  the  28th  of  December. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  "subaltern"  a  witness — Walker,  author  of  "Jackson  and  New 
Orleans,"  becomes  a  witness — The  battle  of  the  first  of  January 
— The  great  battle  contest  from  the  23d  of  December  until  the 
8th  of  January — It  was  a  continuous  fight. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  battle  of  the  first  of  January— Still  victory— A  terrible  wound 
makes  lifetime  friends — Jackson's  two  ' '  back-downs  " — The  Ken- 
tucky troops — The  enemy  reinforced — January  7th  all  done  that 
could  be  done;  Jackson  ready  and  composed — This  Government 
has  never  laid  a  slab  over  his  grave. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  present  generation  knows  but  little  of  the  war  of  1812— Parton 
on  the  first  thirty-seven  days  of  1815 — The  truth  told  and  Parton 
has  credit— The  awful  suspense  at  Washington— Jackson  and  the 
Hall  of  Fame. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Jackson's  patriotic  address  to  the  people  of  New  Orleans — Full  of 
history— The  honor  paid  Jackson  by  the  people— The  speech  of 
the  Rev.  Dubourg  and  Jackson's  reply. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

At  1  o'clock  Jackson  said,  "  Rise;  the  enemy  will  be  on  us;  I  must 
go  and  see  Coffee  "—Carroll  was  given  the  center;  the  assault 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xvii 

was  then  made — Packenham  was  killed;  Gibbs  took  his  place  and 
was  killed;  Lambert  took  Gibbs'  place  and  was  shot  from  his 
horse — The  accounts  given  by  the  British  officers — The  attack  on 
Carroll's  lines  much  like  Napoleon's  attack  on  Wellington's  right 
wing. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Driving  the  British  army  to  their  ships — Jackson  returned — Jack- 
son's reward  for  having  the  Legislature  guarded— General  Coffee 
replies  lo  a  resolution  honoring  him  and  other  officers — Major 
Overton  in  defending  Fort  Phillips— The  enforcement  of  martial 
law — Newspaper  attack  by  I/ouaillier — His  arrest — The  arrest  of 
Judge  Hall. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Hall  arrests  Jackson— Jackson  in  court — Jackson's  fine  paid,  and 
remitted  after  twenty -seven  years. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  demurrer  in  the  United  States  Senate  over  Judge  Hall's  fine — 
Judge  Tappan,  of  Ohio,  defends  Jackson — Long  continued  perse- 
cution of  Jackson  for  arresting  Hall — Again  Parton  seeks  to 
dishonor  Gen.  and  Mrs.  Jackson — The  ball  given  in  their  honor — 
The  students  of  the  University  of  Nashville  give  Jackson  a  re- 
ception when  he  returns  to  Nashville. 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

English  writers  admit  that  the  entire  loss  in  killed,  wounded  and 
desertion  in  the  army  that  came  to  the  South  was  4,000 — Those 
not  dead  or  missing,  when  they  returned  to  England,  were 
sent  to  Wellington  and  were  in  battle  of  Waterloo — Jackson  at 
home,  then  ordered  to  Washington  and  again  put  to  work — Cor- 
respondence between  General  Jackson  and  General  Scott. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Continuation  of  the  affair  with  General  Scott — Jackson  notifies 
Scott  that  he  is  ready  to  receive  any  communication  sent. 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

Jackson's  critics  in  ignorance  of  his  real  character — Bishop  Potter's 
famed  "  Jeffersonian  simplicity  to  Jacksonian  vulgarity  " — Other 
distinguished  writers — Proof  that  Jackson  wrote  his  own  State 
papers. 

1 


My  Reasons  for  Writing  the  Life 
of  Andrew  Jackson. 


MY  REASONS  FOR  WRITING  THE 
OF  ANDREW  JACKSON. 


TO  tell  you  why  I  wrote  the  Life  of  Andrew  Jackson 
would  require  more  space  than  you  can  afford  to 
give  me  in  any  publication  you  may  desire  to  make. 
Like  everything  else  that  a  man  undertakes,  of  as  much 
moment  as  this  was  to  me,  it  must,  before  he  can  work  well, 
grow  into  a  passion.  I  had  only  what  had  been  picked  up 
in  reading  without  any  purpose,  a  very  good  idea  of  General 
Jackson's  public  life  —  that  is,  good  in  the  estimation  of 
the  men  who  have  lived  in  my  time  who  knew  General 
Jackson  had  fought  a  great  battle,  and  had  been  a  very 
energetic  President.  We  knew  his  conflicts  in  life,  public 
and  private,  had  been  extraordinary.  We  had  just  informa- 
tion enough  about  the  man  to  attract  a  young  man  who  was 
giving  some  attention  to  the  history  of  his  country,  and 
some  special  attention  to  the  history  of  his  State.  Such 
were  the  conflicts  in  the  public  mind  about  General  Jackson, 
that  I  became,  as  many  others,  interested  in  knowing  the 
truth,  and  especially  what  was  the  truth  in  reference  to 
General  Jackson's  political  life  —  whether  it  had  been  a  life 
of  patriotism,  or  a  life  of  ambition ;  whether  he  had  been  a 
man  of  pure  principle,  or  as  many  of  the  writers  said,  and  as 
many  of  them  thought,  a  man  who  lived  upon  his  prejudices. 
-  To  me  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  as  it  was  generally  told, 
was  incredible,  and  like  a  large  majority  of  the  people  of 
Tennessee  in  the  second  and  third  generation  from  the 
second  war  for  freedom,  no  man  could  believe  the  story 
as  it  was  told  —  that  he  had  fought  one  of  the  finest  of  En- 
gland's armies,  destroying  a  very  large  part  of  it  and  driven 


6  INTRODUCTORY. 

the  balance  from  the  country,  losing  six  men  killed  and  seven 
wounded.  But  there  was  the  victory  —  the  wonderful  vic- 
tory over  one  of  England's  finest  generals  and  one  of  its 
finest  armies,  with  the  astounding  fact  on  Jackson's  side 
that  he  had  organized  his  own  army,  that  he  had  appointed 
his  own  generals,  that  his  army  was  almost  entirely  made 
up  from  the  citizens  of  his  own  State,  and  that  they  were 
absolutely  without  military  experience.  This  state  of  facts 
which  was  in  the  public  mind  and  generally  told,  in  the 
enormity  and  extravagance  of  the  story  itself,  prompted  me 
to  look  into  it,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  investigation  I  found 
what  I  believed  to  be  the  most  extraordinary  set  of  facts  in 
the  annals  of  modern  warfare.  I  became  intensely  inter- 
ested. This  interest  increased  as  year  by  year  I  gathered 
up  the  facts.  There  were  many  striking  features  in  it  that 
amazed  me,  and  they  were  of  such  deep  interest  to  my 
native  State,  as  well  as  to  my  whole  country,  that  I  said, 
"Surely  somebody  will  write  the  truth  of  history  and  let  the 
world  know  who  General  Jackson  was,  what  he  did ;  some- 
one who  will  tell  the  story  as  it  is  due  to  coming  genera- 
tions." 

There  was  confusion  in  my  mind  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
disagreement  in  the  public  mind  as  to  the  true  character  of 
General  Jackson.  I  found  that  two  lives  had  been  written 
—  one  a  book  of  more  than  2,000  pages,  written  evidently 
by  a  man  to  make  money,  without  any  just  appreciation  of 
a  biography  which  was  to  form  a  part  of  American  history ; 
the  other  was  written  by  a  New  England  professor,  and  by 
a  man  who  evidently,  as  he  shows  in  his  book  from  the  very 
start,  was  not  a  friend  of  the  War  of  1812,  and  that  he 
could  not  do  justice  to  a  general  who  had  been  an  important 
factor  in  that  war.  He  did  not  hesitate  to  express  his 
preference  for  the  principles  of  the  Hartford  Convention  to 
the  doctrines  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson.  I  saw  nobody  who 
was  likely  to  undertake  this  work.  I  had  but  little  time  to 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

do  it  —  was  a  pretty  busy  man  in  my  profession,  but  I  made 
up  my  mind  that  I  would  devote  my  spare  time  to  writing 
articles  for  the  press  — "Memoirs  of  General  Jackson,"  and 
I  feel  now  that  the  leading  incentive  to  that  resolution  was 
to  do  justice  to  my  own  State,  rather  than  to  the  country  at 
large,  for  I  had  never  before  realized  or  appreciated  Ten- 
nessee's place  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

It  came  to  me  with  great  force  that  General  Jackson  as  a 
factor  in  the  second  American  Revolution  had  immortalized 
Tennessee,  and,  perhaps,  with  more  than  ordinary  feeling 
of  State  pride  I  commenced  this  work,  with  the  hope  that 
with  such  means  and  at  such  times  as  I  could  spare  I  would 
be  able  finally  to  prepare  and  submit  a  life  of  this  distin- 
guished Tennessean  that  would  at  least  do  justice  to  him 
and  his  soldiers.  My  early  life  had  been  without  any 
particular  predilection  in  favor  of  General  Jackson.  I  was 
connected  by  family  ties  with  the  Sevier  side  of  the  contro- 
versy, that  is  so  memorable  in  the  history  of  the  State, 
between  Jackson  and  Sevier,  and  all  my  training  and  feeling 
and  family  influence  had  been  on  the  side  of  Sevier  instead 
of  Jackson.  But  the  astounding  prejudice  that  had  been 
brought  against  General  Jackson  by  Parton,  and  other  sec- 
tional partisan  writers,  excited  in  me  a  sense  and  a  spirit 
that  justice  must  be  done  and  that  the  truth  must  be  told. 
I  realized  that  no  man  could  read  Sumner's  "Life  of  Jack- 
son," or  Parton's  "Life  of  Jackson,"  without  laying  down 
the  book  in  doubt  as  to  whether  he  was  a  good  man  or  a 
bad  man,  and  whether  he  was  really  a  patriot,  a  friend  to 
his  country,  or  an  enemy  to  his  country. 

In  this  full  belief,  after  a  somewhat  extended  examination 
which  I  made,  I  made  up  my  mind,  and  it  has  never  been 
changed  —  every  day's  observation  and  every  day  of  investi- 
gation for  now  five  years  in  writing  the  book  and  collecting 
facts  have  impressed  me  that  of  all  the  men  this  country 
has  produced,  he  was  one  of  the  truest,  and  not  only  one  of 


8  INTRODUCTORY. 

the  truest,  but  one  of  the  most  lovable  men  in  all  his  relations 
in  private  life  —  that  in  all  he  had  to  do  with  men,  whether 
in  public  or  private  life,  he  was  the  truest  of  men.  As  I 
saw  him,  he  never  had  an  aspiration  in  the  world  that  was 
not  founded  in  the  good  of  his  country — and  it  was  with  this 
feeling  that  I  commenced  the  work;  but  the  most  striking 
feature,  and  the  one  that  sank  deepest  and  most  intensely 
interested  me,  were  the  conditions  and  circumstances  under 
which  and  in  which  General  Jackson  entered  into  military 
life  and  took  upon  himself  the  great  work  of  rescuing  his 
country  —  his  whole  country,  not  simply  Tennessee;  not 
his  friends,  but  the  whole  country  —  from  its  humiliation. 

For  instance,  I  found  upon  examination  that  the  War  of 
1812  had  in  a  great  measure  broken  the  martial  spirit  of  the 
entire  country,  and,  without  now  undertaking  to  give  the 
reasons  for  it,  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  spirit  that  had  ani- 
mated Washington's  war  —  the  War  of  the  Revolution  — 
and  kept  our  soldiers  in  the  field  for  nearly  eight  years,  had 
totally  disappeared.  The  victories  over  our  armies  had  not 
only  been  complete,  disastrous  to  us,  but  they  had  humiliated 
every  American  reader  who  loved  his  country  —  not  one 
single  victory  had  we  had  in  the  contest  with  the  British. 
Not  only  were  these  victories  of  the  British  over  our  armies 
a  source  of  mortification  to  the  whole  country,  indeed,  alarm, 
but  the  President  of  the  United  States,  a  true  patriot  and 
great  citizen  —  Mr.  Madison  —  had  been  driven  from  post 
to  post.  They  had  entered  the  Capitol  and  burned  it;  they 
had  murdered  American  citizens  in  the  streets;  they  had 
driven  the  President  of  the  United  States  out  of  the  White 
House.  Not  only  was  this  going  on  at  home,  but  England 
was  in  a  state  of  glorification  over  its  victories.  The 
London  Times  and  the  London  Sun,  perhaps,  came  nearer 
being  two  great  blackguards  than  was  ever  known  in  papers 
of  their  high  character,  in  our  vilification,  in  their  denuncia- 
tion of  us.  They  proclaimed  from  day  to  day  that  we  had 


INTRODUCTORY.  9 

turned  out  to  be  a  nation  of  cowards ;  that  we  had  by  trickery 
gained  our  independence,  and  that  we  had  brought  on  this 
war  without  any  just  cause  —  made  a  great  to-do  about  it  — 
and  that  after  we  had  brought  on  the  war  we  had  turned 
out  to  be  a  nation  of  cowards  unwilling  to  fight,  and  fleeing 
before  their  armies.  The  theaters  and  playhouses  in  London 
in  the  winter  of- 1813  and  1814  were  packed  to  witness  sham 
battles  of  soldiers  with  cowards.  While  this  was  going  on, 
Mr.  Madison  had  sent  commissioners  to  England  to  make 
peace,  and  without  any  suggestion  from  the  British  Govern- 
ment of  a  desire  for  peace,  or  any  intimation  that  they  were 
willing  to  make  peace.  The  President  had  appointed  five 
commissioners  —  five  of  the  most  distinguished  men :  Mr. 
Adams,  Mr.  Bayard,  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Gallatin,  and  Mr. 
Crawford  —  to  go  to  England  and  see  what  could  be  done. 
At  the  time  Jackson  came  to  the  front  they  had  been  in 
England  about  twelve  months.  They  had  met  the  British 
Commissioners,  and  in  view  of  their  victories  over  us  — 
what  they  had  done,  what  their  success  had  been  —  they 
were  unwilling  to  make  any  terms  that  did  not  include  a 
large  cession  of  our  territory  to  England  as  a  basis  of  settle- 
ment. They  demanded  that  we  should  surrender  to  them 
all  of  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  and  a  large  part  of 
what  is  Illinois  and  Indiana. 

Mr.  Gallatin's  letters  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  afterwards  made  public,  show  that  our  condition  as 
our  commissioners  saw  it  was  indeed  most  critical.  Mr. 
Gallatin  pointed  out  in  his  letters  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States  that  his  greatest  difficulties,  or  one  of  his 
greatest  difficulties,  was,  that  the  most  extensively  populated 
portion  of  our  country  —  New  England  —  was  all  against 
the  war  and  not  in  sympathy  with  him,  all  of  which  the 
President  of  the  United  States  had  fully  realized. 

This  being  our  condition  in  the  second  War  of  the  Revo- 
lution, at  the  time  Jackson  raised  his  own  army  and  brought 


10  INTRODUCTORY. 

relief  to  the  country,  it  came  to  me  as  a  revelation  that 
General  Jackson's  true  history  had  been  obscured  by  preju- 
diced writers,  and  I  suppose  this  more  than  anything  else 
prompted  me  to  the  work  which  I  have  done.  What  General 
Jackson  had  to  contend  with  in  the  Creek  War,  and  what  he 
accomplished,  and  how  he  turned  the  tide,  can  only  be 
known  by  such  careful  investigation  as  I  have  made  in  writ- 
ing this  book.  The  truth  is,  General  Jackson's  Creek  Cam- 
paign, his  victory  at  Fort  Bowyer  in  the  destruction  of  a 
naval  force  of  considerable  importance,  and  capture  of 
Pensacola,  have  all  been  obscured  by  the  light  of  his  great 
victory  at  New  Orleans  afterwards. 

General  Wellington  said  at  a  dinner  table  in  London  — 
talking  to  Andrew  J.  Donelson,  when  Donelson  was  on  his 
way  as  Minister  to  Berlin,  as  I  was  informed  by  Mrs.  Wilcox 
at  Washington,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Donelson  and  with 
him  in  London  —  that  he  had  carefully  examined  the  Creek 
Campaign,  and  that  if  Jackson  had  done  nothing  else,  it 
made  him  one  of  the  great  generals  of  the  world. 

In  these  researches  I  made  what  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  dis- 
covery, but  it  was  simply  obscured  history  which  I  dug  up 
by  piecemeal  and  established  the  following  facts :  That  up 
to  the  time  of  these  victories  of  General  Jackson,  the  news 
of  which  reached  England,  with  the  fact  that  the  President 
had  made  him  a  Major  General  in  the  United  States  Army, 
our  commissioners  were  utterly  hopeless,  and  that  when  the 
British  Commissioners  got  this  news  they  notified  our  com- 
missioners that  they  would  withdraw  the  offensive  demands 
that  they  had  made,  and  two  days  thereafter  the  treaty  of 
Ghent  was  signed,  showing  that  General  Jackson  made  the 
treaty  of  Ghent  just  as  much  as  he  fought  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans.  At  this  juncture  the  mystery  of  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans  was  solved,  because  I  found  that  instead  of  one  bat- 
tle fought  on  the  8th  of  January  with  6,000  raw  troops,  right- 
ing more  than  double  their  number  of  trained  soldiers,  he  had 


INTRODUCTORY.  11 

only  completed  a  battle  that  had  lasted  almost  continuously 
day  and  night  from  the '23d  of  December,  1814,  to  the  8th  of 
January,  1815,  and  the  British  authorities  which  I  have  col- 
lected say,  that  in  attacking  the  British  Army  at  night  during 
that  period  of  more  than  two  weeks  he  had  utterly  demoral- 
ized the  army,  and  that  it  was  in  no  condition  to  fight  when 
the  final  struggle  came. 

When  I  came  to  look  into  General  Jackson's  civil  life,  and 
what  he  did  as  President  of  the  United  States,  I  am  more 
struck  with  it  than  I  am  with  his  extraordinary  military  life 
—  in  his  successes  as  President  in  the  conflicts  he  had  with  a 
hostile  Senate  during  nearly  the  whole  period,  headed  by 
Clay,  Webster,  and  Calhoun,  he  did,  perhaps,  what  no  other 
man  could  have  done  —  that  is,  he  retained  the  confidence 
of  the  people ;  and  while  it  would  look  that  both  Houses  of 
Congress  were  against  him  at  one  period,  as  he  was  com- 
pelled to  veto  very  important  bills,  the  people  never  elected 
and  sent  to  Washington  a  Congress  during  the  whole  eight 
years  that  wasn't  for  Jackson  and  Jackson's  policy.  When 
Mr.  Bell  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  House  he  was  a  strong 
Jackson  man,  but  turned  over  to  the  Bank  side.  Two 
years  later  the  people  sent  up  a  Congress  that  refused  to  re- 
elect  Mr.  Bell,  and  elected  James  K.  Polk  Speaker  of  the 
House. 

Jackson's  political  life  —  that  is,  his  public  career  as 
President  —  was  probably  more  pleasing  to  the  whole  people 
than  had  been  the  public  life  of  any  previous  President. 

When  he  became  President  in  1829,  we  had  many  unset- 
tled matters  with  foreign  nations,  including  the  spoliation 
claims  with  half  a  dozen  nations,  all  of  which  he  settled  up 
and  collected  the  money.  They  were  old  and  complicated, 
and  had  fought  their  way  through  all  the  administrations 
from  Washington  down  —  indeed,  they  were  old  barnacles, 
that  it  was  frightful  to  consider. 

Jackson  not  only  cleared  them  all  up,  but  when  he  went 


12  INTRODUCTORY. 

out  of  office,  in  1837,  every  matter  of  controversy  with 
every  nation  had  been  cleared  up,  and  he  turned  over  to  his 
successor  an  absolutely  clean  sheet. 

I  am  not  inclined  to  close  this  review  of  my  reasons  for 
writing  the  Life  of  Jackson  without  expressing  what  has 
been  the  greatest  wrong  to  Jackson's  character  by  those  who 
assailed  him,  and  what  to  me  has  been  the  greatest  pleasure 
of  the  entire  work.  Commencing  the  work  at  an  age  when 
I  needed  repose  and  not  toil,  I  found  an  unceasing  pleasure 
in  General  Jackson's  private  life,  even  more  than  in  all  of  his 
public  service.  More  than  a  hundred  publications  about 
Jackson  have  been  written  in  the  form  of  books,  pamphlets, 
and  vicious  diatribes,  sometimes  in  one  form  and  sometimes 
in  another.  They  have  ranged  from  the  literature  of  Parton, 
in  which  he  sums  up,  as  I  now  remember,  in  his  last  chapter 
what  he  says  is  Jackson's  true  character,  especially  making 
him  not  only  illiterate,  but  a  man  incapable  of  being  anything 
else  than  a  social  anomoly  down  to  even  a  much  lower  class, 
whose  names  and  vicious,  vulgar  diatribes  must  never  go 
again  into  a  book.  Instead  of  the  character  thus  given,  I 
found  General  Jackson  to  be  a  man  of  refinement  and  of  the 
finest  sensibilities,  perhaps  the  most  lovable  man  in  all  his 
family  relations  of  all  our  public  men ;  the  most  elegant  man 
in  society,  the  most  lordly  in  his  manner,  with  an  amount  of 
cultivation  coming  from  an  education  which  he  had  acquired 
along  the  walks  of  life,  which  I  am  sure  will  surprise  every 
reader  of  the  book  who  hasn't  given  the  subject  the  same 
attention  I  have.  I  have  read  more  than  a  hundred  and 
twenty  of  his  original  letters ;  they  are  not  the  letters  of  a 
literary  man,  but  they  are  the  letters  of  an  educated  man,  a 
man  who  knew  the  world  and  all  classes  of  people;  his 
letters  to  the  public  men,  to  members  of  his  family,  to  women 
and  children,  are  among  the  finest  specimens  of  common  life 
literature  to  be  found  among  the  men  of  distinction  in  this 
or  any  other  country  —  in  fact,  he  is  the  finest  letter  writer 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

(take  his  letters  in  all  their  aspects)  that  this  country  has 
produced. 

I  note  in  reading  his  letters  from  1788,  when  he  first  came 
to  Tennessee,  down  to  1845,  tne  ^me  °*  ms  death,  that  in 
culture  as  well  as  information  there  was  a  continuous 
growth.  His  early  letters  show  a  man  of  great  power,  but 
lacking  in  words ;  but  he  came  to  be,  in  his  power  of  expres- 
sion, in  his  use  of  language,  in  his  well-chosen  sentences, 
indeed  a  model  letter  writer. 

In  nothing  will  the  true  life  of  Andrew  Jackson  be  more 
surprising  to  cultured  people  than  in  his  marvelous  acquire- 
ments which  evidently  came  from  reading  and  observation. 
In  some  respects  General  Jackson  excels  all  men,  especially 
in  his  courteous  and  gentlemanly  bearing  in  society,  and 
particularly  among  women.  I  have  in  my  possession,  in 
printed  pamphlet  form,  the  letter  of  Judge  McNairy,  who 
brought  him  from  North  Carolina  to  Tennessee.  This 
letter  was  written  and  printed  in  1827,  when  General  Jack- 
son was  bitterly  assailed  by  his  political  enemies  about  his 
marriage,  and  Judge  McNairy  says  that  he  and  Jackson 
roomed  together  at  Salisbury,  North  Carolina.  They  trav- 
eled together,  when  one  was  judge  and  the  other  attorney 
general,  as  United  States  officers.  Jackson  was  then  a  very 
young  man.  He  says  they  boarded  together  in  Nashville 
and  roomed  together,  and  of  all  the  men  he  had. ever  known 
in  his  life,  General  Jackson  was  the  most  nearly  perfect  in 
all  his  relations  with  women.  This  letter  is  a  short  biog- 
raphy of  the  private  and  social  life  of  General  Jackson,  and 
as  a  chapter  of  refutation  of  what  ignorant  and  vicious 
writers  have  said,  it  should  be  truly  a  feature  in  the  life  and 
character  of  this  wonderful  man. 

In  General  Jackson's  military  career,  he  was  blessed  as  a 
commander  of  armies,  was  blessed  with  two  lieutenants  — 
Carroll  and  Coffee  —  who  were  invaluable  to  him.  They 
were  selected  by  him,  not  as  Napoleon  selected  his  marshals 


14  INTRODUCTORY. 

—  out  of  the  ranks ;  Jackson  had  no  ranks  when  he  chose 
them  for  lieutenants,  and  they  will  live  in  history  along  with 
his  own  name. 

And,  fortunately,  in  his  career  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  he  had  for  his  Prime  Minister,  Col.  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  and  as  a  parliamentarian  this  country  has  not  had 
his  superior.  General  Jackson  was  a  firm  believer  in  an 
overruling  Providence,  and  always  believed  that  he  might 
rely  on  a  just  Providence  in  taking  his  side. 

In  one  respect  a  favorite  aspiration  in  the  work  has  not 
been  encouraged  —  while  the  conviction  of  its  merit  has 
been  increased.  From  the  time  I  got  well  into  the  work  I 
became  deeply  interested  that  our  young  men  should  have  a 
just  and  true  estimate  of  General  Jackson's  character  as 
well  as  of  his  powers,  and  it  has  been  a  labor  of  love,  if  such 
a  work  can  be  called  labor,  to  prepare  a  connected  and 
truthful  story  of  a  public  and  private  life,  so  high  and  so 
worthy  as  Andrew  Jackson's. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  men  who  are  lingering  with  us,  in 
their  younger  days  became  more  interested  in  the  men  who 
had  made  our  history  than  the  young  men  of  the  present 
day,  it  is  not  a  pleasing  thought  to  those  who  are  lingering. 
With  this  apprehension  in  writing  the  work  now  coming 
from  the  press,  I  have  fully  appreciated  the  importance  of 
giving  out  a  life  —  a  character  —  whose  deeds  make  undy- 
ing history  for  our  young  men  in  a  service  that  will  stay 
with  the  records  through  the  ages,  but  at  the  same  time 
entice  them  into  the  domain  of  patriotism  by  a  romance  that 
for  the  time  puts  fiction  on  the  shelf.  A  romance  that  is  as 
pathetic  as  true,  commencing  with  the  burial  of  his  father, 
an  Irish  peasant,  in  a  lonely  grave,  and  his  own  birth  in 
the  cabin  of  a  stranger  on  the  side  of  the  road  leading 
away  from  the  grave,  on  the  same  day,  and  in  quick 
succession  the  mother  dying  in  a  hospital  nursing  the  sick, 
and  his  own  first  collision  in  jail  when  he  refused  to  polish 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

a  British  officer's  boots,  and  his  last  collision  when  he  sent 
England's  greatest  army  —  all  he  did  not  kill  —  back  on 
the  way  to  a  funeral  service  over  the  bodies  of  Packenham 
and  Gibbs,  with  a  doctor  dressing  the  wounds  of  Keane, 
and  then  by  the  very  majesty  of  his  manner  making  an 
order  on  old  England  to  keep  the  peace  in  the  presence  of 
Uncle  Sam. 

But  I  trust  with  the  romance  of  facts  unequaled  in  fiction, 
and  passing  over  several  personal  collisions  which  came 
from  a  high  sense  of  personal  honor,  all  of  which  passed 
away  without  malice,  I  may  take  the  young  men  who  may 
be  inclined  to  get  on  a  higher  plane  of  life  than  that  of  strife 
in  war's  ways  or  in  facts  that  take  the  place  of  fiction. 

As  President  of  the  United  States,  Andrew  Jackson,  by 
an  intellectual  foresight  and  a  courage  in  duty,  made  eight 
years  in  American  history  to  be  known  as  "The  Jacksonian 
Period,"  and  in  many  respects,  without  unduly  praising  it, 
it  will  occupy  the  most  conspicuous  place  in  our  first  hun- 
dred years  —  indeed,  in  the  first  hundred  and  fourteen 
years. 

Andrew  Jackson's  history,  from  the  time  he  was  first 
talked  of  for  President,  in  1816,  to  the  retirement  from  the 
office  of  President  (and  well  might  be  included  the  great 
life  of  the  private  citizen  after  he  retired  until  his  death), 
should  be  studied  with  care  by  every  young  man  who  is  at 
all  interested,  or  can  be  made  so,  in  American  history.  As 
time  goes  on,  and  men  without  prejudice  or  local  prefer- 
ences, who  study  American  history,  who  come  to  make  up 
the  record,  will  give  Jackson  not  only  the  first  place  as  a 
soldier,  judging  by  sagacity  to  see  and  genius  to  accomplish 
results,  but  they  will  write  him  the  greatest  of  all  the  men 
who  have  filled  that  highest  office  to  which  men  in  modern 
times  have  aspired. 

I  do  not  and  cannot  afford  to  put  this  statement  in  this 
book  without  a  consciousness  of  verification  by  the  record: 


16  INTRODUCTORY. 

indeed,  the  man  who  has  given  the  state  papers  of  our 
statesmen  the  most  careful  study  because  it  came  to  be  his 
highest  duty  —  the  Hon,  James  D.  Richardson  —  is  of  the 
same  opinion. 

As  a  Senator  in  1824,  when  the  election  was  thrown  into 
the  House,  Mr.  Webster,  who  was  with  him  in  the  Senate, 
gives  him  the  preference  in  dignity  over  all  the  other  candi- 
dates — Adams,  Clay  and  Crawford  —  and  says  he  was  the 
favorite  of  Mrs.  Webster. 

But  the  young  men  of  our  country  who  want  to  know 
the  history  of  it  by  its  men  —  the  men  who  have  made  our 
history  —  should  at  least  read  the  Jacksonian  period.  No 
period  in  our  history  has  had  in  the  Senate  for  so  long  a 
period  such  an  assemblage  of  great  men — Adams,  Clay,  Cal- 
houn,  Webster,  Crawford  and  Benton,  besides  others  nearly 
or  quite  equal  in  debate.  Benton  alone  was  standing  by 
Jackson  in  his  war  with  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
It  was  more  than  a  fight  over  the  bank  —  it  was  through 
a  large  part  of  the  eight  years  a  war  on  Jackson. 

The  decision  has  long  since  been  made  that  Jackson's 
victory  and  final  triumph  over  the  Senate  was  the  greatest 
intellectual  victory  of  modern  times. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ENTRANCE    INTO    LIFE    SADLY   AND    PAINFULLY    OBSCURE 

NEVER  SAW  HIS  FATHER DID  NOT  KNOW  WHAT  STATE 

HE    WAS    BORN    IN MANY    SPITEFUL    BOOKS    WRITTEN 

ABOUT  HIM  BRING  A  FEELING  OF  RESENTMENT PARTON 

AND  SUMNER  AS  BIOGRAPHERS  HAVE  DISHONORED  HIM 

SHALL    THE   RECORD    MADE    GO   TO    POSTERITY    WITHOUT 
CORRECTION. 

IT  may  be  said,  with  a  confidence  which  reaches  a  convic- 
tion, that  the  world  never  produced  any  other  man  who 
rose  to  the  distinction,  in  either  military  or  civil  life, 
that  Andrew  Jackson  did  —  and  he  reached  the  summit  in 
both  —  whose  origin,  entrance  into  life,  and  early  steps  were 
so  sadly  and  painfully  obscure  as  his.       If  it  were  not  that 
in  the  goodness  of  our  natures  we  love  self-made  men  who 
come  to  be  benefactors  to  their  race,  and  take  pleasure  in 
tracing  their  early  days,  to  tell  the  story  of  his  family,  his 
birth,  his  boyhood,  would  be  as  painful  as  it  is  weird. 

Behind  his  father  and  mother  there  is  not  a  trace  of  his 
family,  except  that  Andrew's  mother  told  him  when  a  small 
boy  that  his  grandfather  was  murdered  in  a  massacre  at 
Carrickfergus  by  the  British ;  supposed  to  have  been  about 
1765.  General  Jackson  did  not  know  what  State  he  was 
born  in ;  he  never  saw  his  father ;  he  was  born  of  an  Irish 
peasant  woman,' who,  after  burying  her  husband  at  the  old 
Waxaw  graveyard  in  North  Carolina,  started,  and  walking 
with  two  little  boys  —  Irish  boys,  born  in  Ireland  —  aiming 
to  reach  a  distant  relative  she  had  in  South  Carolina ;  and 
getting  permission  to  stay  all  night  in  a  road-side  house, 
Andrew  Jackson  was  born.  This  house  was  in  North 
Carolina,  though  near  the  South  Carolina  line. 


18  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF 

It  is  left  in  doubt  whether,  after  burying  the  husband  and 
father  of  the  future  (then  unborn)  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  family  ever  returned  to  the  cabin  they  had  left. 

This  is  the  entire  story,  as  far  as  history  makes  record,  of 
the  family  of  Andrew  Jackson,  and  of  himself  down  to  the 
time  when  his  mother  took  him  in  her  arms  —  leaving  the 
cabin  on  the  roadside  —  and  started  to  walk  into  South 
Carolina.  There  is  only  enough  evidence,  and  none  to 
spare,  about  the  place  of  his  birth  to  meet  the  requirement 
of  the  Constitution  about  nativity  as  a  qualification  for  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States.  If  he  had  been 
born  in  Ireland,  as  some  writers  have  supposed,  or  if,  as  one 
determined  writer  asserts,  he  had  been  born  in  the  ship  on 
the  ocean  when  the  family  were  fleeing  from  British  oppres- 
sion, he  would  have  been  barred  from  the  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States. 

Now,  as  there  is  nothing  else  of  the  ancestry  of  Andrew 
Jackson  —  for  the  lack  of  which  I  am  not  inclined,  as  Mr. 
Parton  was,  to  substitute  a  history  of  the  Irish  race — I  will 
be  excused,  I  am  sure,  if  I  give  here  in  this  first  chapter  some 
outline  in  a  general  way  of  the  incentives  and  purposes  in 
writing  the  book  —  including  in  a  general  way  his  true 
character  and  masterly  powers,  as  well  as  his  true  place  in 
American  history. 

Whether  this  is  biographical  literature  for  a  first  chapter, 
or  not,  is  not  considered,  and  though  it  may  not  inspire 
many  boys  who  feel  that  they  lack  money  and  friends  to 
hope  for  success,  it  will  at  once  give  them  a  just  conception 
of  the  blessings  that  inhere  in  our  government,  so  wisely 
formed  for  the  masses,  with  no  recognized  sovereignty  in 
birth  or  fortune. 

It  did  not  require  critical  research  to  find  that  from  some 
cause  the  two  books  —  lives  of  General  Jackson  —  written 
after  his  death,  one  by  Parton  and  one  by  Sumner,  were  in 
many  respects  so  palpably  unjust  as  to  be  offensive  to  Ameri- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  19 

can  history,  and  in  other  respects  to  be  so  spiteful  and 
vicious  in  characterization,  that  a  feeling  of  resentment, 
perhaps,  had  something  to  do  in  suggesting  the  work.  In- 
stead of  the  illiteracy,  I  found  culture  sufficient  to  make 
Andrew  Jackson  the  best  letter  writer  of  all  our  Presidents. 
Instead  of  ignorance  and  impotency  in  the  preparation  of 
state  papers,  in  the  office  of  President,  I  found  a  man  marvel- 
ously  familiar  with  public  affairs,  both  foreign  and  home,  and 
well  versed  in  international  law,  and  I  found  the  conclusive 
evidence  that  his  greatest  state  papers  were  written  by  him- 
self without  help  from  any  source.  Instead  of  a  back- 
woodsman, coarse  in  manners,  I  found  a  man  in  social 
life  most  accomplished  —  lordly  among  men,  elegant  and 
gracious  among  women,  and  with  a  helping  hand  in  the 
discharge  of  official  duties  when  the  strong  oppressed  the 
weak,  all  of  which  seemed  to  be  parts  of  his  nature. 

But,  above  all,  I  found  a  man  whose  place  in  American 
history  had  been  obscured  and  not  given. 

As  a  soldier,  as  well  as  in  his  career  in  the  high  trusts 
committed  to  him  in  civil  affairs,  including  his  services  when 
a  young  man  as  one  of  the  framers  of  our  first  Tennessee 
Constitution,  then  as  a  member  of  the  Lower  House  of 
Congress,  twice  in  the  United  States  Senate,  then  as  Gov- 
ernor of  Florida,  and  finally  as  President  of  the  United 
States,  the  two  biographers  not  only  fail  to  do  justice  to 
General  Jackson,  but  they  becloud  every  service,  impugn  his 
motives,  falsify  his  intelligence,  and  become  partisan  critics 
with  spiteful  defamation. 

Professor  Sumner  in  one  of  his  early  chapters  discusses 
Mr.  Jefferson's  theory  of  government  as  compared  with  that 
of  the  Hartford  Convention,  giving  his  preference  to  the 
latter.  And  Mr.  Parton,  at  the  end  of  his  4,200  pages, 
says,  "Of  all  human  beings  Jackson  was  least  fit  to  be 
President  of  the  United  States." 


20  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

When  this  book  is  read,  no  reader  will  be  surprised  that  a 
feeling  of  resentment  came,  and  an  inclination  to  write  the 
truth  of  history  about  a  man  who  was  so  truly  national  in 
his  patriotism,  and  so  wise  in  the  conduct  of  civil  affairs, 
and  so  capable  and  courageous  as  a  Major  General  in  the 
United  States  Army;  indeed,  who  had  wrested  the  flag 
from  the  military  forces  of  old  England  and  put  it  back  on 
the  Capitol  at  Washington,  where  it  will  stay  as  long  as  we 
have  a  republic,  and  that  at  a  time  when  in  the  second  war 
of  the  Revolution  the  martial  spirit  of  our  people  and  the 
soldier  quality  of  our  armies  had  been  put  to  the  severest 
test.  That  this  great  American,  long  after  he  is  in  the 
grave,  shall  become  the  victim  of  passion,  prejudice,  party 
spirit,  or  unfriendly  sectional  feeling,  and  books  be  written 
about  him  accredited  with  the  evidence  of  truth,  which 
common  sense  implies  in  a  biographer,  but  which  when 
read  show  almost  numberless  passages  on  which  the 
descendants  of  the  subject  maligned,  if  he  had  any,  could 
maintain  actions  for  defamation  against  the  guilty  authors, 
if  living,  shall  be  allowed  to  go  to  posterity  without  correc- 
tion, would  be  a  reflection  on  the  race  of  men  who  lived 
when  the  evidences  of  the  truth  had  not  been  lost  or 
destroyed,  and  when  the  very  winds  from  the  graves  of 
compatriot  soldiers  and  statesmen  come  pleading  the  cause 
of  justice  and  truth,  is  a  reflection  which  came  to  me  when 
research  disclosed  the  truth. 

Although  I  was  at  an  age  that  needed  rest  and  not  work — 
seeing  no  man  still  actively  at  work  who  had  been  an  inter- 
ested spectator  of  the  men  and  times  and  issues  which  came 
out  of  the  Jacksonian  period  who  was  likely  to  undertake 
it  —  I  commenced  the  work,  and  it  has  been  a  continuous 
source  of  pleasure. 

This  first  chapter  covers  the  need  of  a  preface. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  21 


CHAPTER  II. 

HIS  LINEAGE  SHADOWY;    IRISH  OR  SCOTCH-IRISH NOTHING 

BEHIND  HIS  GRANDFATHER,  KILLED  AT   CARRICKFERGUS 

THE  MOTHER  STARTED  TO  WALK  TO  SOUTH  CAROLINA, 

STOPPED    ON     THE    WAY,    AND    ANDREW    JACKSON    WAS 

BORN FAMILY    BURIED    IN    UNKNOWN    GRAVES THE 

MOTHER  AS  A  NURSE  IN  HOSPITALS. 

THE  character  and  condition  of  the  people  on  the  west 
side  of  the  mountain  when  Andrew  Jackson  left 
North  Carolina  and  came  into  a  country,  whose 
most  eminent  citizen  he  became,  is  important  as  a  starting 
point  in  the  life  of  a  man  who  figured  as  General  Jackson 
did. 

Having  been  born  and  raised  in  Washington  County, 
near  Jonesboro,  where  the  fireside  talk  in  my  home  was 
Jackson  and  Sevier,  and  Sevier  and  Jackson,  and  where 
every  phase  of  their  boyhood,  as  well  as  their  entrance  into 
public  life  and  their  deeds,  were  discussed,  I  am  prepared 
to  approve  in  the  main  the  sketch  in  Colonel  Allison's 
"Dropped  Stitches." 

General  Jackson  came  to  Jonesboro  in  1788,  and  reached 
Nashville  in  October  of  the  same  year  —  not,  as  Colonel 
Allison  says,  in  the  fall  of  1789,  or  in  the  spring  of  1790. 
He  did  not  stop  in  Jonesboro,  except  temporarily ;  he  came 
from  Jonesboro  to  Greeneville  with  Judge  McNairy,  where 
they  both  got  license  to  practice  law.  There  is  much  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  tending  to  show  that  Jackson  and 
McNairy  remained  in  East  Tennessee  two  years,  but  I  have 
in  my  possession  the  letter  of  Judge  McNairy,  written  in 
1827,  showing  that  he  and  General  Jackson  reached  Nash- 
ville in  October,  1788.  This  is  the  extract  from  the  letter : 


22  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF 

"NASHVILLE,  7th  May,  1827. 

"Dear  Sir: — You  desired  me  to  state  my  knowledge  of 
the  private  character  of  General  Jackson,  as  it  respects  his 
conduct  in  connection  and  intermarriage  with  Mrs.  Jackson. 

"General  Jackson  and  myself  have  been  acquainted  for 
more  than  forty-five  years;  part  of  the  time  we  lived 
together,  and  the  balance  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  each  other.  We  moved  together  from  North  Carolina 
to  this  State,  and  arrived  at  Nashville  in  October,  1788." 

When  Jackson  came  to  Jonesboro,  and  on  to  Nashville, 
he  found  a  class  of  men  who  had  recently  crossed  the  moun- 
tain settling  on  the  Watauga  and  Nolachucky  rivers,  and 
at  Nashville,  who  seemed  to  be  born  soldiers. 

The  great  victory  at  King's  Mountain ;  the  destruction 
of  the  left  wing  of  Cornwallis'  army,  moving,  as  it  was, 
from  the  Southern  seacoast  up  through  the  Carolinas  to 
unite  with  the  Northern  victorious  army  somewhere  in 
Virginia,  at  the  very  darkest  hour  of  the  Revolution,  thereby 
causing  Cornwallis  to  abandon  his  campaign  and  go  back 
to  the  coast,  and  this  mainly  done  by  the  backwoodsmen  in 
what  is  now  Tennessee;  men  who  belonged  to  no  army, 
collected  and  organized  in  less  than  ten  days,  which,  consid- 
ered in  connection  with  the  great  victory  at  New  Orleans, 
settles  the  character  and  quality  of  Tennessee  volunteers. 
The  claim  of  these  people  to  a  place  in  history  does  not  rest 
alone  on  the  great  victory  at  King's  Mountain,  nor  in  the 
world-renowned  victory  over  the  British  at  New  Orleans. 
The  men  that  crossed  the  mountain  and  settled  on  the 
Watauga  and  Nolachucky  rivers  were  mainly  from  North 
Carolina,  and  they  are  the  men  that  opened  the  ball  in  the 
great  play  of  independence  in  the  famous  battle  at  the 
Alamance,  in  North  Carolina,  on  the  i6th  of  May,  1771. 

Speaking  of  the  Regulators  in  North  Carolina,  which 
brought  on  the  battle  of  the  Alamance,  Mr.  Ramsey  says : 
"While  it  is  well  known  that  the  leaders  of  this  oppressed 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  23 

party  now  expressed  a  desire  to  be  free  from  law  or  equi- 
table taxation,  the  Governor's  palace,  double  and  treble  fees 
and  taxes  without  law  or  reason,  drove  the  sober  to  resist- 
ance and  the  passionate  and  unprincipled  to  outrage.  The 
Regulators  continued  their  resistance  to  illegal  taxes  two  or 
three  years."  Then  he  shows  how  the  British  Governor, 
Trion,  raised  an  army  and  fought  the  battle  on  the  i6th  of 
May,  1771 — the  battle  of  the  Alamance;  the  Regulators 
had  an  army  of  between  two  and  three  thousand,  but  they 
were  poorly  armed  and  were  defeated  by  the  Governor's 
forces,  and  thirty-six  of  them  were  killed  in  this  battle,  and 
a  great  number  wounded  on  both  sides.  He  shows  that 
they  did  not  flee  until  their  ammunition  was  exhausted; 
he  calls  this  the  first  battle — the  first  blood  shed  for  the 
engagement  of  liberty.  When  defeated,  they  crossed  the 
mountain  and  settled  on  the  Watauga. 

But  the  main  fact  that  I  want  is  one  that  is  conclusive  as 
to  this  battle  being  the  first  of  the  Revolution.  Our  Min- 
ister to  .the  Court  of  St.  James,  Mr.  Bancroft,  under  Mr. 
Polk,  got  permission  to  look  into  the  Blue  Book,  and  in 
speaking  of  the  British  state  papers  which  he  found  in  the 
files — all  the  papers  pertaining  to  the  Regulators — he  says 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  D.  L.  Swain,  speaking  of  these  state  papers 
and  the  Regulators,  they  show  "that  their  complaints  were 
well  founded  and  were  so  acknowledged,  though  their 
oppressors  were  only  nominally  punished.  They  form  the 
connecting  link  between  resistance  to  the  Stamp  Act,  and 
the  movement  of  1775,  and  they  also  played  a  glorious  part 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  towards  which  they  were  irresist- 
ibly carried  by  their  love  of  independence.  It  is  a  mistake 
if  any  have  supposed  the  Regulators  were  cowed  down  by 
their  defeat  at  the  Alamance.  Like  the  Mammoth,  they 
shook  the  bolt  from  their  brow  and  crossed  the  mountains." 

Mr.  Ramsey  says,  "Watauga  gave  its  cordial  welcome 


24  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

to  these  honest-hearted  patriots,  and  here  was  the  cradle  of 
the  infant  Hercules — Tennessee." 

The  opening  ball  of  the  Revolution  was  not  Concord  nor 
Lexington.  It  was  the  uprising  of  the  people  against 
the  tyrant,  Trion,  at  the  Alamance,  about  forty  miles  west 
of  Raleigh.  It  has  been  claimed  that  the  first  attempt  at  an 
independent  government  was  at  Mecklenburg,  North  Caro- 
lina, in  May,  1 775  ;  others  claim  it  at  Boonsboro,  Kentucky, 
in  May,  1775.  Haywood,  in  his  "History  of  Tennessee," 
page  41,  says: 

"In  1772  (May),  the  settlement  on  the  Watauga,  being 
without  government,  formed  a  written  association  and  arti- 
cles for  their  conduct.  They  appointed  five  commissioners, 
a  majority  of  whom  were  to  decide  all  matters  of  contro- 
versy, and  to  govern  and  direct  for  the  common  good  in 
other  respects";  and  again,  page  46:  "This  committee 
settled  all  private  controversies,  and  had  a  clerk,  Felix 
Walker,  now  or  lately  a  member  of  Congress  from  North 
Carolina.  They  also  had  a  sheriff.  This  committee  had 
stated  and  regular  times  for  holding  their  sessions,  and  took 
the  laws  of  Virginia  for  their  standard  of  decision." 

Haywood  further  says  that  they  were  living  under  this 
government  'in  November,  1775. 

Some  four  years  after  this  local,  self-independent  govern- 
ment had  been  entered  into  by  the  settlers  of  Watauga, 
John  Sevier,  in  a  memorial  to  the  North  Carolina  Legis- 
lature explaining  it,  says : 

"Finding  ourselves  on  the  frontiers  and  being  appre- 
hensive that,  for  want  of  a  proper  legislature,  we  might 
become  a  shelter  for  such  as  endeavor  to  defraud  their 
creditors ;  considering  also  the  necessity  of  recording  deeds, 
wills,  and  doing  other  public  business,  we,  by  consent  of  the 
people,  formed  a  court  for  the  purposes  above  mentioned, 
taking,  by  desire  of  our  constituents,  the  Virginia  laws  for 
our  guide,  so  near  as  the  situation  of  affairs  would  permit. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  25 

This  was  intended  for  ourselves,  and  was  done  by  consent 
of  every  individual." 

These  people  then  laid  the  foundation  for  a  judicial 
system.  The  original  paper  is  in  the  county  clerk's  office 
at  Jonesboro,  and  is  as  follows  (this  is  a  literal  copy)  : 

"I  do  solemnly  swear  that  as  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  a 
Justice  of  the  County  Court  of  Pleas,  and  Quarter  Sessions 
in  the  County  of  Washington,  in  all  matters  in  the  commis- 
sion to  me  directed,  I  will  do  equal  right  to  the  poor  and  the 
rich  to  the  best  of  my  judgment  and  according  to  the  law 
of  the  State.  I  will  not  privately  or  openly,  by  myself  or 
any  other  person,  be  of  counsel  in  any  quarrel,  or  suit, 
depending  before  me,  and  I  will  hold  the  County  Court  and 
Quarterly  Sessions  of  my  county,  as  the  statute  in  that  case 
shall  and  may  direct : 

"The  fines  and  amercements  that  shall  happen  to  be  made, 
and  the  forfeitures  that  shall  be  incurred,  I  shall  cause  to 
be  duly  entered  without  concealment.  I  will  not  wittingly 
or  willingly  take  by  myself,  or  any  other  person  for  me  any 
fee,  gift,  gratuity  or  reward  whatsoever  for  any  matter  or 
thing  by  me  to  be  done,  by  virtue  of  my  office,  except  such 
fees  as  are  or  may  be  directed  or  limited  by  statute,  but  well 
and  truly  I  will  do  my  office  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  as  well 
within  the  County  Court  of  Pleas  and  Quarter  Sessions  as 
without.  I  will  not  delay  any  person  of  common  right,  by 
reason  of  any  letter  or  order  from  person  or  persons  in 
authority  to  me  directed,  or  for  any  other  cause  whatever, 
and  if  any  letter  or  order  come  to  me  contrary  I  will  proceed 
to  enforce  the  law,  such  letter  or  order  notwithstanding.  I 
will  not  cause  to  be  directed  any  warrant  by  me  to  be  made 
to  the  parties.  But  will  direct  all  such  warrants  to  the 
sheriff  or  constable  of  the  county,  or  other  officers  of  the 
State,  or  other  indifferent  person  to  do  execution  thereof, 
and  finally,  in  all  things  belonging  to  my  office,  during  con- 
tinuation therein  will  faithfully,  truly  and  justly,  according 
to  the  best  of  my  (judicial)  skill  and  judgment  do  equal 
and  impartial  justice  to  the  public  and  to  the  individual,  so 
help  me  God." 


26  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

This  paper  is  signed  by  James  Robertson,  John  Sevier, 
and  twenty-five  others. 

A  more  thoroughly  independent,  self-acting,  and  wrong- 
righting  government  was  never  formed.  As  regulators, 
this  independent  court  regulated  social  and  family  matters, 
generally  on  motion.  Here  are  some  specimens : 

"On  motion  that  Josiah  Baulding  should  be  admitted  to 
come  in  and  remain  henceforth  peaceably  in  this  county,  on 
proviso,  that  he  comply  with  the  laws  provided  for  persons, 
being  inimical  to  the  State,  and  have  rendered  service  that 
will  expiate  any  crime  that  he  has  been  guilty  of,  inimical  to 
this  State  or  to  the  United  States.  The  Court  on  consider- 
ing the  same  grant  the  said  leave." 

This  court  also  exercised  jurisdiction  in  military  matters. 
It  made  orders  on  motion.  Here  is  a  specimen :  One 
George  Lewis  was  tried,  on  motion,  for  treason  in  1779, 
and  here  is  the  order : 

"On  hearing  the  facts  and  considering  the  testimony  of 
the  witnesses,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Court  that  the  defend- 
ants be  sent  to  the  district  goal.  It  appearing  to  the  Court 
that  the  said  Lewis  is  a  spie  or  an  officer  from  Florida  out 
of  the  English  Army." 

Again,  State  vs.  Mose  Crawford,  for  high  treason : 

"It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Court,  that  the  defendant  be 
imprisoned  during  the  present  war  with  Great  Britain,  and 
the  sheriff  take  the  whole  of  his  property  into  custody,  which 
must  be  valued  by  a  jury  at  the  next  Court.  And  that 
one-half  of  the  said  estate  be  kept  by  the  said  sheriff  for  the 
use  of  the  State,  and  the  other  remitted  to  the  family  of 
defendant." 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  court  in  criminal  matters  is  well 
exemplified  in  the  following  order : 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  27 

"On  motion  it  appears  that  Joshua  Williams,  and  a  cer- 
tain James  Lindly,  did  feloniously  steal  a  certain  bay  gelding 
horse  from  Samuel  Sherill,  Sr.  Ordered  that  if  the  said 
Samuel  Sherill  can  find  any  property  of  the  said  Joshua 
Williams,  Jonathan  Helms  and  said  Lindly,  that  he  take  the 
same  into  his  possession." 

This  Samuel  Sherill  was  the  father  of  Catherine  Sherill. 
known  as  "Bonnie  Kate,"  who,  flying  from  the  Indians, 
jumped  over  the  wall  of  the  Watauga  Fort,  and  was  caught 
in  the  arms  of  John  Sevier,  and  who  afterwards  became  his 
wife;  and  he  was  the  great-grandfather  of  the  author. 

The  reader  can  now  see  the  character  of  men  out  of  which 
Sevier  and  Shelby  made  up  the  army  to  fight  the  battle  of 
King's  Mountain.  Ramsey  says  about  the  organization  of 
this  army: 

"Among  the  refugees,  soon  after,  came  Samuel  Phillips, 
the  parole  prisoner,  by  whom  Ferguson  sent  his  threatening 
message,  as  already  mentioned.  It  reached  Shelby  by  the 
last  of  August.  He  immediately  rode  fifty  or  sixty  miles 
to  see  Sevier,  for  the  purpose  of  concerting  with  him  meas- 
ures suited  to  the  approaching  crisis.  He  remained  with 
him  two  days.  They  came  to  a  determination  to  raise  all 
the  riflemen  that  they  could,  march  hastily  through  the 
mountains,  and  endeavor  to  surprise  Ferguson  in  his  camp. 
They  hoped  to  be  able,  at  least,  to  cripple  him,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent him  crossing  the  mountain  in  the  execution  of  his 
threat.  The  day  and  place  were  appointed  for  the  ren- 
dezvous of  the  men.  The  time  was  the  25th  day  of 
September,  and  Sycamore  Shoals,  on  the  Watauga,  selected 
as  being  the  most  central  point  and  abounding  most  in  the 
necessary  supplies. 

"Col.  Sevier,  with  that  intense  earnestness  and  persuasive 
address  for  which  he  was  so  remarkable,  began  at  once  to 
arouse  the  border  men  for  the  projected  enterprise.  In 
this  he  encountered  no  difficulty.  A  spirit  of  heroism 
brought  to  his  standard  in  a  few  days  more  men  than  was 
thought  prudent  or  safe  to  withdraw  from  the  settlement, 


28  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  whole  military  force  of  which  was  estimated  at  consid- 
erably less  than  a  thousand  men.  Something  less  than 
one-half  of  that  number  was  necessary  to  man  the  forts  and 
stations,  and  keep  up  scouting  parties  on  the  extreme  fron- 
tier. The  remainder  were  immediately  enrolled  for  this 
distant  service.  A  difficulty  arose  from  another  source. 
Many  of  the  volunteers  were  unable  to  furnish  suitable 
horses  and  equipments.  The  iron  hand  of  poverty  checked 
the  rising  ambition  of  many  a  valorous  youth  who  had  heard 
of  battle,  and  who  longed  to  follow  to  the  fields  some  warlike 
chief. 

"  'Here,'  said  Mrs.  Sevier,  pointing  to  her  son,  not  yet 
sixteen  years  old ;  'here,  Mr.  Sevier,  is  another  of  our  boys 
who  wants  to  go  with  his  father  and  brother  to  war,  but  we 
have  no  horse  for  him,  and,  poor  fellow,  it  is  a  great  distance 
to  walk.'  Col.  Sevier  tried  to  borrow  money  on  his  own 
responsibility  to  fit  out  and  furnish  the  expedition.  But 
every  inhabitant  had  expended  his  last  dollar  in  taking  up 
his  land,  and  all  the  money  of  the  country  was  thus  in  the 
hands  of  the  entry-taker.  Sevier  waited  upon  that  officer 
and  represented  to  him  that  the  want  of  means  was  likely 
to  retard  and,  in  some  measure,  to  frustrate  his  exertions  to 
carry  out  the  expedition,  and  suggested  to  him  the  use  of 
the  public  money  in  his  hand.  John  Adair,  Esq.,  late  of 
Knox  County,  was  the  entry-taker,  and  his  reply  was  that 
worthy  of  the  times  and  worthy  of  the  man :  'Col.  Sevier,  I 
have  no  authority  by  law  to  make  that  disposition  of  this 
money.  It  belongs  to  the  impoverished  treasury  of  North 
Carolina,  and  I  dare  not  appropriate  a  cent  of  it  to  any  pur- 
pose; but,  if  the  country  is  overrun  by  the  British,  liberty 
is  gone.  Let  the  money  go,  too.  Take  it.  If  the  enemy 
by  its  use  is  driven  from  the  country,  I  can  trust  that  country 
to  justify  and  vindicate  my  conduct.  Take  it.' 

"The  money  was  taken  and  expended  in  the  purchase  of 
ammunition  and  the  necessary  equipments.  Shelby  and 
Sevier  pledged  themselves  to  see  it  refunded,  or  the  act  of 
the  entry-taker  legalized  by  the  North  Carolina  Legislature. 
That  was  scrupulously  attended  to  at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment.  The  evidence  of  it  is  before  the  writer  in  the 
original  receipt  now  in  his  possession : 

"'Received,  Jan.  31,  1782,  of  Mr.  John  Adair,  entry- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  29 

taker  in  the  County  of  Sullivan,  twelve  thousand  and  seven 
hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars,  which  is  placed  to  his  credit 
on  the  treasury  books,  $12,735.00. 

"  'Per  ROBERT  LANIER,  Treas. 

"  'Salisbury  District/  " 

The  material  for  making  just  such  an  army  as  Jackson 
had  at  New  Orleans  was  the  best;  they  were  just  the  men 
to  appreciate,  and  at  once  accept  and  fall  in  under  such  a 
born  leader  as  Andrew  Jackson.  But  at  the  time  Jackson 
came  these  men  had  a  beloved  and  trusted  leader  in  the  great 
Indian  fighter,  the  hero  of  King's  Mountain.  Sevier  was 
then  in  middle  age,  a  Hugenot  (in  France  the  name  was 
Xavia).  He  had  seen  some  service  in  Virginia  as  an 
Indian  fighter  in  the  regular  line,  and  was  known  to  General 
Washington.  He  came  to  the  Watauga  settlement  at  the 
same  time  that  Evan  and  Isaac  Shelby  came,  but  afterwards 
settled  on  the  Nolachucky. 

Up  to  the  time  Jackson  came,  Sevier  had  been  the  wall 
of  defense  for  the  frontier  settlements,  and  had  protected 
the  women  and  children  in  the  Watauga  Fort  against  the 
Indian's  tomahawk ;  he  had  literally  stood  guard  for  eighteen 
years  before  Jackson  came,  fighting  more  than  thirty  battles 
with  the  Indians,  and  always  victorious.  He  was  the 
beloved  "Nolachucky  Jack." 

The  great  victory  at  King's  Mountain,  so  unique  in  its 
conception  and  so  far-reaching  in  its  results,  is  as  much  a 
part  of  Tennessee  history  as  the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 
General  Washington  declared  it  was  the  turning  point  of 
the  Revolution,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  said:  "It  was  the  joyful 
emancipation  of  that  time  in  the  tide  of  success  that  termi- 
nated the  Revolutionary  War  with  the  seal  of  our  independ- 
ence." This  is  literally  true;  the  British  Army  had  been 
victorious  on  the  Northern  line,  and  Washington  was  taking 
care  of  his  brave  little  army  as  best  he  could.  Cornwallis 
had  landed  a  large  army  at  Charleston,  and  was  moving  it 


30  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

up  through  the  Carolinas  in  three  divisions,  devastating  the 
country,  driving  the  Whig  families  into  the  mountains, 
taking  the  Tory  men  into  the  army,  and  protecting  their 
families. 

General  Ferguson,  a  distinguished  soldier,  who  was  com- 
manding the  left  wing,  had  sent  word  to  the  Tennessee 
frontiersmen  on  the  Watauga  and  Nolachucky  that  if  their 
war  on  the  Indians  did  not  stop,  he  would  cross  the  moun- 
tain and  destroy  the  country.  Sevier  and  Shelby  imme- 
diately put  rough  riders  on  horses,  and  in  four  days  every 
man  that  could  carry  a  gun  was  notified,  and  a  few  days 
later  they  were  all  at  King's  Meadows,  where  Bristol  now 
is,  with  guns  in  hand,  and  a  vote  was  taken  whether  they 
would  stay  in  the  mountain  passes  and  defend  the  settle- 
ments, or  go  in  pursuit  of  Ferguson.  The  vote  was  unani- 
mous to  go  and  hunt  him.  Colonels  Campbell  and  Cleveland, 
with  about  300  Virginia  troops,  united  with  them  here, 
making  in  all  1,200  men  with  squirrel  rifles. 

All  on  horses  they  rode  through  the  mountains  about  130 
miles,  and  found  Ferguson  on  King's  Mountain,  in  good 
position  for  attack  or  defense.  General  Berhard,  an  officer 
under  Napoleon,  and  afterwards  an  engineer  in  the  United 
States  Army,  in  examining  the  battleground  of  King's 
Mountain,  says : 

"The  Americans  by  their  victory  in  that  engagement 
erected  a  monument  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  brave 
men  who  had  fallen  there;  and  the  shape  of  the  hill  itself 
would  be  an  eternal  monument  of  the  military  genius  and 
skill  of  Colonel  Ferguson  in  selecting  a  position  so  well 
adapted  for  defense,  and  that  no  other  plan  of  assault  but 
that  pursued  by  the  mountain  men  could  have  succeeded 
against  him." 

Sevier  immediately  after  the  battle  of  King's  Mountain 
took  a  hundred  men  and  rode  night  and  day  till  he  reached 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  31 

home,  having  been  in  a  state  of  alarm  about  the  frontiers 
from  the  time  he  left  home  on  the  campaign.  Reaching 
home,  Sevier  was  met  by  citizens  to  make  an  appeal  for 
protection  against  advancing  Indians.  They  asked  him 
how  soon  he  would  be  ready  to  go,  saying  the  Indians  were 
at  the  river  and  would  soon  be  across  and  in  the  settlements, 
which  meant  the  tomahawk  and  the  scalping  knife  for  their 
wives  and  children.  The  reply  was,  "As  soon  as  Kate  can 
get  us  some  dinner."  This  great  Indian  fighter  was  married 
to  his  "Bonnie  Kate"  three  weeks  before  starting  on  the 
King's  Mountain  campaign. 

This  is  an  insight  to  the  hero  who  for  twenty-six  years 
literally  stood  guard  over  the  women  and  children  on  the 
frontiers,  and  then  was  their  beloved  Governor  for  twelve 
years,  then  their  honored  Congressman,  then  out  in  the 
Indian  country  under  an  order  from  President  Monroe, 
surveying  a  line  of  the  Jackson  treaty  with  the  Indians, 
where  he  died ;  he  was  buried,  and  slept  until  the  State  he 
had  immortalized  took  up  his  sleeping  dust  and  brought  it 
back  to  its  native  heath,  where,  over  this  dust  a  third  genera- 
tion has  erected  a  monument  of  granite  to  remind  all  coming 
generations  that  patriotism  has  its  enduring  reward. 

When  Kate  got  the  dinner  for  him  and  his  one  hundred 
men  he  had  brought  back  with  him,  he  moved  on  the  Indians 
and  met  them  at  the  river,  fought  one  of  his  surprise  battles, 
then  pursued  them  as  far  as  the  place  where  Rome,  Georgia, 
now  is,  so  crippling  them  by  killing  the  warriors  and  burn- 
ing their  towns  that  it  gave  relief  to  the  people  of  the 
Watauga  and  Nolachucky  for  a  whole  year. 

Sevier  did  not  get  back  to  the  Watauga  Fort  for  three 
months.  Campbell  and  Shelby,  with  Colonel  Cleveland, 
who  joined  them  with  a  small  force,  after  making  a  full 
report  to  General  Gates  of  the  campaign,  turned  and  fol- 
lowed and  fought  on  the  flank  of  Cornwallis'  army  as  it 
retreated  all  the  way  back  to  Charleston. 


32  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

The  report  made  by  Shelby  and  Campbell  to  General 
Gates  of  their  most  extraordinary  campaign  is  copied  in  full 
in  "Ramsey's  Annals."  It  shows  that  in  the  campaign 
there  were  Colonel  Sevier,  Colonel  Shelby,  Colonel  Camp- 
bell, and  Colonel  Cleveland,  all  commanding  small  bodies 
of  volunteers.  They  moved  from  King's  Meadows  on  the 
26th  of  September,  1780.  No  one  officer  having  a  right  to 
command,  they  dispatched  an  express  to  General  Gates,  at 
Hillsboro,  North  Carolina,  informing  him  of  the  situation, 
and  asking  him  to  send  a  general  officer  to  take  command. 

Colonel  Campbell  was  put  in  command  till  such  officer 
should  arrive.  They  moved  rapidly  through  the  mountains 
and  found  that  General  Ferguson  was  encamped  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Broad  River.  Without  awaiting  the 
return  of  the  messenger,  they  took  900  of  their  men,  with 
the  best  horses ;  leaving  the  weak  horses  and  footmen,  they 
moved  in  the  night  and  came  on  Ferguson  on  King's  Moun- 
tain, where  he  felt  secure. 

No  such  battle,  so  unique  in  its  character,  has  been  fought. 
Campbell,  Sevier,  Shelby,  and  Cleveland  were  regarded  as 
of  equal  rank  —  that  is,  each  had  command  of  his  own 
troops,  with  no  superior  officer,  but  each  having  his  place  in 
the  advance  up  the  mountain.  The  battle  lasted  one  hour 
and  fifteen  minutes,  and  General  Ferguson  was  dead,  with 
1 80  of  his  officers  and  soldiers,  and  the  balance  were  pris- 
oners. And  that  is  all  there  is  of  King's  Mountain.  I 
have  given  these  historic  facts  from  a  reliable,  and  in  a 
sense  official,  source,  and  mainly  for  the  reason  that,  as  far 
as  it  may  be  consistent  with  the  purpose  of  this  work,  I  shall 
uphold  the  volunteer  service  for  the  defense  of  American 
rights,  as  against  the  policy  of  a  large  standing  army. 

The  militia,  or  volunteer  service  —  for  practically  they 
are  the  same  —  as  against  a  great  standing  army,  is  a  ques- 
tion likely  to  be  revived  and  much  discussed  in  coming 
years.  Without  prejudice  to  any  other  section  of  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  33 

country,  Tennessee  has  a  history  so  full  of  facts  that  her 
record  must  play  an  important  part  in  the  discussion. 

General  Jackson,  with  Tennessee  soldiers,  in  the  Creek 
War,  rendered  the  Government  such  efficient  service — so 
relieving  the  situation  after  the  British  had  burned  Washing- 
ton and  gained  great  victories  over  our  army  on  the  Canada 
line,  and  up  to  which  time  despondency  prevailed — that  the 
Government  in  its  exuberance  of  gratitude  made  him  a 
Major  General  in  the  United  States  Army.  This  single  act 
by  the  Government  had  much  to  do  in  producing  the  spirit 
and  prejudice  from  which  his  great  deeds  may  never  rescue 
his  name. 

All  great  soldiers  have  had  their  critics — unkind  critics — 
but  neither  Cromwell  nor  Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  nor  any 
other  great  soldier  whose  history  I  have  read,  has  been 
cursed  by  enemy  biographers.  Parton's  "Life  of  Jackson" 
and  Sumner's  "Life  of  Jackson"  give  to  the  world  a  new 
and  cowardly  mode  of  destroying  a  great  man  by  stealing 
into  biographical  work  under  the  cloak  of  friendship,  uni- 
versally accorded  by  the  public  to  biographers.  It  is  true 
Bourienne,  who  had  long  been  a  private  secretary  of  Napo- 
leon's, and  had  been  embittered  against  the  great  captain 
for  personal  unkind  treatment,  allowed  this  to  crop  out  in 
the  book,  but  he  did  not  become  the  spiteful  defamer  of 
Napoleon.  On  the  contrary,  he  wrote  probably  the  best 
and  most  truthful  biography  of  the  great  Frenchman  ever 
written. 

There  is  no  country  in  the  world  where  citizen  soldiers 
as  contradistinguished  from  the  army  have  displayed  the 
soldier  quality  as  in  the  United  States.  This  country  has 
been  peculiar  and  exceptional  in  the  absence  of  a  standing 
army  and  the  readiness  of  the  citizens  to  make  a  casus  belli 
a  call  to  arms. 

It  is  not  surprising,  with  the  infirmity  of  big  men  as  well 
as  little  ones,  that  when  history  records  that  Colonel  Shelby, 


34  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Colonel  Campbell,  Colonel  Cleveland,  and.  Colonel  Sevier, 
with  citizen  soldiers,  in  one  hour  and  fifteen  minutes  killed 
and  captured  an  entire  army  of  superior  numbers,  leaving 
every  single  officer  or  soldier  dead  or  wounded  on  the  field 
that  was  not  taken  prisoner  or  brought  away,  and  that 
Jackson,  with  citizen  soldiers,  6,000  against  12,000,  in 
twenty-five  minutes  had  the  British  Army  on  the  retreat, 
and  1,500  dead  on  the  field — I  say  it  is  not  surprising,  with 
our  infirmities,  that  the  regulars  should  have  a  jealous  smile 
for  the  citizen  soldier.  On  the  subject  of  fighting  for  free- 
dom, or  in  defense  of  the  flag  when  it  is  assaulted,  Tennessee 
has  a  record,  and  Jackson,  for  his  citizen  soldier  quality, 
though  made  a  Major  General  in  the  United  States  Army, 
is  the  crowned  king  of  citizen  soldier  service.  The  regular 
army,  small  as  it  always  has  been,  has  done  its  duty,  and  if 
its  indiscreet  friends  would  suppress  their  indiscretions, 
with  its  help  the  citizen  soldiers  of  this  great  country  would 
take  care  of  the  flag  and  the  country's  honor. 

It  will  be  the  delight  of  the  writer  of  these  memoirs,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  do  justice  not  only  to  the  great  soldier,  but 
the  private  soldier  generally,  who  has  argued  the  question 
better  than  any  pen  can  do  it,  by  going  to  the  front  with  his 
gun  —  simply  on  notice  every  time  the  notice  came  —  from 
King's  Mountain  to  Manila. 

In  addition  to  Mr.  Parton,  a  Mr.  William  Graham 
Sumner,  Professor  of  Practical  and  Social  Science  in  Yale 
College,  has  tried  his  hand  in  what  is  known  as  "The  Ameri- 
can Statesmen  Series."  As  a  beginning  he  sets  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son and  his  democracy  aside  in  the  following  style : 

"Jefferson  cannot  be  said  to  have  had  any  plan.  The 
statesmen  of  his  party  tried  to  act  on  the  belligerents  by 
destructive  measures  against  domestic  commerce  and  indus- 
try, chastising  ourselves,  as  Plummer  said,  'with  scorpions/ 
in  order  to  beat  the  enemy  with  whips.  And  Jefferson  has 
remained  a  popular  idol  and  has  never  been  held  to  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  35 

responsibility  which  belongs  to  him  for  his  measures.  The 
alien  and  sedition  laws  were  not  nearly  so  unjust  and  tyran- 
nical as  the  laws  for  enforcing  the  embargo,  and  they  did 
not  touch  one  man  where  the  embargo  laws  touched  hun- 
dreds. New  England  was  denounced  for  want  of  patriot- 
ism because  it  resisted  the  use  of  its  interest  for  national 
purposes,  but  as  soon  as  the  secondary  effect  of  embargo  on 
agriculture  began  to  be  felt,  the  agricultural  States  raised  a 
cry  which  overthrew  the  device.  Yet  criticisms  which  are 
justified  by  the  most  conclusive  testimony  of  history,  fall 
harmlessly  from  Jefferson's  armor  of  popular  platitudes  and 
democratic  statements.  He  showed  the  trait  which  we  call 
'womanish.'  His  diplomacy,  besides  being  open  to  the 
charge  that  it  was  irregular  and  unusual,  was  transparent 
and  easily  turned  to  ridicule.  It  was  diplomacy  without 
lines  of  reserve  or  alternatives,  so  that  in  a  certain  very 
possible  contingency  it  had  no  course  open  to  it." 

This  Hartford  Convention  apologist  is  put  forward  by 
some  concerted  action  to  write  for  the  "American  Statesmen 
Series,"  which  goes  in  all  the  libraries,  the  life  of  democ- 
racy's greatest  hero.  Surely  democracy  is  unfortunate  in 
the  selection  of  men  to  take  care  of  the  fame  of  its  great 
idols,  Jefferson  and  Jackson. 

This  is  about  the  way  this  copyist  after  Parton  introduces 
the  great  general  and  statesman,  whose  biography  he  is 
going  to  write : 

"Up  to  the  time  of  the  Creek  War  little  was  known  of 
Jackson  at  Washington,  save  that  he  was  a  friend  of  Burr, 
an  enemy  of  Jefferson,  and  that  he  had  acted  in  a  subordi- 
nate manner  at  Natchez,  reflecting  on  the  Administration, 
and  winning  popularity  for  himself.  Jackson  had  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Burr  when  in  Congress.  In  1805  Burr 
visited  Jackson,  and  made  a  contract  with  him  for  boats  for 
the  expedition  down  the  Mississippi." 

Here  is  the  way  this  biographer  introduces  the  people 
that  Jackson  came  amongst : 


36  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"The  pioneers,  so  much  lauded  in  song  and  story, 
the  men  who  first  broke  the  path  into  the  wilderness,  but 
who  degenerated  the  status  of  their  class  to  do  it.  They 
became  incapacitated  for  the  steady  labor  of  civilized  indus- 
try, and  when  the  country  became  so  filled  up  that  game  was 
scarce,  agriculture  a  necessity,  and  law  began  to  be  recog- 
nized and  employed,  the  pioneers  moved  on  into  the  wilder- 
ness. In  their  habits  they  were  idle  and  shiftless,  and 
almost  always  too  fond  of  strong  drink.  The  class  of 
settlers  who  succeeded  them  were  little  better  in  their  habits, 
although  they  began  to  clear  the  forests  and  till  the  soil." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  put  more  ignorance  into  the  same 
space. 

No  sympathy  is  or  will  be  asked  for  the  pioneers  in  the 
Southwest,  "so  much  lauded  in  song  and  story,"  on  account 
of  the  uprising  of  Mr.  William  Graham  Sumner,  Professor 
of  Practical  and  Social  Science  in  Yale.  The  assault  has 
the  palliation  of  passion.  It  is  true  the  blood  had  time  to 
cool  in  a  legal  sense,  but  the  offense  was  grievous  and  of  a 
twofold  nature.  If  the  Professor  will  accept  it,  I  will,  as 
the  biographical  scribe  of  General  Jackson,  apologize  for 
the  threat  to  hang  the  Professor's  friends  in  the  Hartford 
Convention.  The  other  offense  is  more  complicated.  The 
war  of  1812  should  not  have  been  brought  on  by  that  daring 
pioneer,  Clay,  without  giving  New  England  time  to  get  her 
fishing  smacks  in  before  the  shooting  commenced;  and 
General  Jackson,  the  fighting  pioneer,  was  just  a  little  rough 
on  his  friends  at  New  Orleans. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  37 


CHAPTER  III. 

WHEN     JACKSON     CAME     TO     TENNESSEE     HE     FOUND     THE 
HEROES     OF    THE     ALAMANCE    AND     KING'S     MOUNTAIN 

THERE THE   FIRST   BATTLE  OF  THE  REVOLUTION   WAS 

NOT  LEXINGTON  NOR  CONCORD,  BUT  THE  BATTLE  OF  THE 
ALAMANCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA THE  FIRST  DEMO- 
CRATIC GOVERNMENT  WAS  FORMED  ON  THE  WATAUGA, 
WHAT  IS  NOW  TENNESSEE. 

ANDREW  JACKSON'S  lineage  is  so  shadowy  and 
the  evidence  so  uncertain,  that  he  can  be  made  a 
Scotch-Irish,  or  Irish,  as  his  biographer  may  choose. 
His  name,  his  personal  appearance,  his  high  estimate  of  life's 
obligations,  and,  finally,  his  religion,  would  strongly  indi- 
cate "Scotch-Irish." 

While  the  murder  of  his  grandfather  in  the  massacre  of 
Carrickf ergus  —  the  father  and  mother  fleeing  from  British 
oppression  and  coming  to  America  —  the  intense  feeling  of 
the  mother  against  the  British  when  the  American  Revolu- 
tion came,  and  the  impress  she  made  on  her  sons,  stimulating 
them  to  go  into  the  army  and  fight  the  British  when  they 
were  mere  boys,  all  tend  to  make  him  an  Irishman,  instead 
of  Scotch-Irish. 

The  home  of  the  Jackson  family,  it  seems  -to  be  conceded, 
was  Carrickfergus,  an  old  town  on  the  coast  of  Ireland 
(northern  coast),  and  in  the  shadowy  line  that  separates 
the  north  from  the  south  of  Ireland.  It  is  only  twelve 
miles  from  Belfast ;  it  was  for  centuries  known  as  the  "Crag 
of  Fergus,"  where,  out  on  a  jutting  crag,  in  the  olden  time, 
the  people  had  drowned  one  King  Fergus.  The  informa- 
tion about  Carrickfergus  being  the  home  of  the  Jackson 
family  comes  from  the  fireside  stories  of  Mrs.  Jackson 


38  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

given  to  her  son,  and  which  she  was  fond  of  relating,  and 
this  tradition  carries  along  the  historic  fact,  usually  accepted 
by  all  General  Jackson's  biographers,  of  the  murder  of  the 
grandfather,  IJugh__Jacksqn,  in  what  they  term  a  great 
massacre.  After  a  very  careful  reading  of  the  history  of 
that  ancient  town,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  there  is  confusion 
in  the  report.  It  is  true  a  castle  was  built  on  the  command- 
ing height,  and  it  had  been  the  scene  of  many  a  bloody 
struggle  from  sea  and  land.  It  had  several  times  been 
stormed,  razed,  and  rebuilt,  but  in  comparatively  modern 
times  the  story  of  its  history  is  not  clear.  But  along  with 
this  uncertainty  there  comes  one  from  the  mouth  of  Mrs. 
Jackson,  and  about  which  she  did  know  —  that  she  and  her 
husband  fled  from  Ireland  on  account  of  British  oppression. 
This  was  in  1765. 

The  early  biographers  of  General  Jackson — Reid,  Eaton, 
Kendall,  and  Waldo  —  made  no  effort  to  trace  the  family 
history.  But  when  Parton,  in  1859,  was  making  investiga- 
tions, he  went  to  Ireland,  visited  Carrickfergus,  but  could 
find  no  record,  trace,  or  tradition  of  the  family.  There 
was  not  even  a  tradition  of  any  family  corresponding  to  the 
Jackson  family,  as  his  mother  had  given  it.  The  place  of 
General  Jackson's  birth,  his  nativity,  has  been  a  matter  of 
contention  ever  since  his  death,  though  it  is  generally 
believed  he  was  born  in  South  Carolina.  The  several 
biographies  written  in  General  Jackson's  lifetime  all  give 
South  Carolina  as  his  native  State.  But  one  vigorous 
writer  and  determined  historian  will  have  it  that  he  was 
born  on  the  sea  when  the  family  was  crossing. 

The  writer  of  these  sketches  delivered  an  address  in 
Washington,  on  the  8th  of  January,  1898,  to  the  oldest 
Jackson  club  in  the  United  States,  whose  president  is 
James  L.  Norris,  and  whose  father  organized  the  club  in 
1829.  At  the  tables  were  four  hundred  members,  many  of 
them  old  men,  and  all  taking  the  deepest  interest  in  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  39 

events  discussed.  One  man,  Mr.  Lewis,  of  West  Virginia, 
claimed  that  Jackson  was  born  in  North  Carolina,  but  he 
was  answered  by  making  the  old  hero  himself  a  witness, 
when  he  said  in  commencing  his  speech  to  the  nullifiers  of 
South  Carolina:  "Fellow  citizens  of  my  native  State." 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  General  Jackson  lived  and  died 
in  the  belief  that  he  was  born  in  South  Carolina. 

While  Parton's  "Life  of  Jackson"  is  a  book  that  ought 
not  to  have  been  written,  yet,  in  some  respects,  it  is  valuable. 
The  author  did  collect  facts  about  the  great  soldier  which 
other  biographers  had  neglected;  and  among  other  things 
he  collected  a  great  volume  of  proof  on  this  subject,  which, 
though  second-hand,  or  in  a  sense  hearsay,  is  nevertheless 
legal  proof  —  family  traditions,  some  of  which  I  here  give. 
When  General  Jackson's  father  died,  he  was  taken  to 
Waxaw  graveyard  and  buried.  He  had  lived  from  the  time 
he  came  to  this  country  on  Twelve-Mile  Creek,  in  North 
Carolina.  Curiosity  with  some,  and  State  pride  with  others, 
forbid  indifference  as  to  the  birthplace  of  a  man  so  widely 
known  as  a  soldier  and  statesman,  and,  to  settle  the  dispute 
between  North  and  South  Carolina,  I  shall  give  the  facts  as 
gathered  up,  showing  that  although  General  Jackson  always 
believed  he  was  born  in  South  Carolina,  yet  he  was  undoubt- 
edly born  in  North  Carolina.  There  is  doubt  from  the 
evidence  whether  the  family  left  the  Waxaw  graveyard 
when  the  father  was  buried,  on  Twelve-Mile  Creek,  in  North 
Carolina,  to  return  to  the  humble  home  where  they  had  lived 
over  two  years  in  North  Carolina,  or  started  immediately  to 
South  Carolina ;  but  either  the  night  after  the  burial,  or  in 
a  day  or  two,  the  mother  and  her  two  little  boys — Robert 
and  Hugh  —  started  afoot  to  South  Carolina,  where  Mrs. 
Jackson  had  a  brother-in-law  named  Crawford,  and  was 
kindly  taken  in  for  the  night  by  a  man  named  McKamy,  and 
Andrew  Jackson  was  born  there  that  night.  Some  papers 
written  out  after  Jackson  became  famous,  by  a  man  called 


40  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

Gen.  S.  E.  Walkup,  said  to  be  a  most  estimable  citizen,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Parton,  which  he  says  he  verified  by 
going  over  the  ground,  which  established  conclusively  that 
General  Jackson  was  born  in  North  Carolina. 

He  also  took  the  statements  of  James  Massy,  John 
Carnes,  James  .Faulkner,  Samuel  Wharton,  Jane  Wilson, 
and  James  D.  Craig.  These  statements  were  taken  in  1859. 
The  witnesses  were  all  old  persons,  and  all  had  seen  and 
known  persons  who  were  at  the  house  when  he  was  born, 
or  had  talked  with  people  who  lived  in  the  neighborhood 
where  he  was  born,  and  knew  the  facts.  The  following  is 
a  sample,  some  having  heard  one  person  talk  and  some 
another. 

James  Faulkner,  second  cousin  of  General  Jackson,  states 
that: 

"Old  Mr.  Jackson  died  before  the  birth  of  his  son,  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  and  that  his  widow,  Mrs.  Jackson,  was  quite 
poor,  and  moved  from  her  residence  on  Twelve-Mile  Creek, 
North  Carolina,  to  live  with  her  relations  on  Waxaw  Creek, 
and  while  on  her  way  there  she  stopped  with  her  sister,  Mrs. 
McKamy,  in  North  Carolina,  and  was  there  delivered  of 
Andrew,  afterwards  President  of  the  United  States;  that 
he  learned  this  from  various  old  persons,  and  particularly 
heard  his  aunt,  Sarah  Lathen,  often  speak  of  it  and  assert 
she  was  present  at  his  (Jackson's)  birth;  that  she  said  her 
mother,  Mrs.  Leslie,  was  sent  for  on  that  occasion,  and  took 
her  (Mrs.  Lathen),  then  a  small  girl  about  seven  years  of 
age,  with  her,  and  that  she  recollected  well  of  going  the  near 
way  through  the  fields  to  get  there;  and  that  afterwards, 
when  Mrs.  Jackson  became  able  to  travel,  she  continued 
her  trip  to  Mrs.  Crawford's,  and  took  her  son  Andrew  with 
her,  and  there  remained." 

It  was  at  this  old  Waxaw  Church,  filled  with  wounded 
and  dying  men  —  the  dread  spectacle  of  war,  where  Amer- 
ica's greatest  warrior  took  his  first  lesson  in  the  art  that 
sends  one  man  to  the  King's  Castle  and  another  to  the  for- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  41 

gotten  graveyard  of  forgotten  soldiers.  From  the  time 
that  Colonel  Tarlton  and  Lord  Rawdon  came  into  the 
country,  war  with  all  its  horror  came  to  the  people  of  that 
section.  If  not  Tories  they  were  driven  from  home  —  the 
women  and  children;  the  men  being  in  the  army  on  one 
side  or  the  other.  It  was  a  section  of  the  country  where 
the  Tories  —  those  who  favored  the  King  —  were  more 
numerous  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  South,  which  intensi- 
fied the  war  feeling  to  such  an  extent  that  it  might  be  called 
a  war  under  the  black  flag.  Nothing  in  American  war 
exceeds  the  terrible  ordeal  through  which  the  poor  people 
of  that  section  passed. 

The  facts  which  I  have  collected  from  the  early  biogra- 
phies, gathered  up  at  a  time  when  the  evidence  could  be  had, 
mark  the  Jackson  family,  in  view  of  its  future  history,  as 
passing  through  a  series  of  tragedies  which  has  no  parallel. 
The  mother  and  her  two  boys  were  driven  from  place  to 
place,  not  knowing  where  to  go.  Andrew,  with  another 
boy,  was  pursued  at  one  time  by  British  troops,  until  to 
make  their  escape  they  rushed  into  a  swollen  stream. 
Andrew  crossed  and  made  his  escape,  but  his  comrade  was 
caught  and  carried  off.  When  Robert  was  fifteen  and 
Andrew  thirteen,  they  gave  their  names  to  a  Whig  recruit- 
ing officer,  which  caused  their  arrest  as  soldiers.  They 
were  sent  off  to  Camden  and  there  imprisoned  for  months 
in  a  most  loathsome  jail — starved  until  they  were  so  ema- 
ciated that  they  could  not  stand  alone,  when  their  mother  was 
allowed  to  go  and  see  them,  which  she  did,  traveling  a  dis- 
tance of  forty  miles,  probably  on  foot. 

Through  her  exertions  an  exchange  was  effected,  she 
getting  her  sons  and  seven  neighbors  released.  When  they 
were  released,  Robert  and  Andrew  were  still  suffering  from 
that  dreadful  malady,  smallpox.  They  had  both  been 
treated  with  great  indignity ;  they  had  both  received  wounds 
at  the  hands  of  cruel  British  officers — Andrew  for  refusing 


42  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

to  black  a  British  officer's  boots.  They  were  taken  home — 
Andrew  barefooted — walking  all  the  way,  while  Robert  was 
riding  and  held  on  his  horse  by  the  soldiers,  whose  release 
the  mother  had  procured.  On  the  way  home  they  were 
caught  in  a  great  storm,  which  brought  a  relapse  on  both. 
Soon  after  getting  home,  Robert  died  from  the  disease  and 
the  wound  which  the  officer  gave  him  on  the  head.  Andrew, 
after  hanging  between  life  and  death  for  several  weeks, 
recovered. 

He  often  showed  the  scar  on  his  head  inflicted  by  the 
British  officer. 

During  this  long  suffering  of  the  people  reduced  literally 
to  starvation,  Tarleton  displayed  his  genius  for  cruelty  in 
war.  It  was  during  this  time  that  Gates  suffered  his  defeat 
on  the  Plains  of  Camden,  and  it  was  while  Robert  and 
Andrew  were  in  jail  that  Rawdon  attacked  General  Green's 
forces  in  sight  of  Camden,  and  which  Andrew  Jackson  could 
see  from  the  window.  The  fatal  want  of  vigilance,  by  which, 
while  his  soldiers  were  playing  games,  Rawdon  surprised 
him  and  gained  a  signal  victory,  it  was  often  said  had  much 
to  do  in  making  Jackson  the  most  vigilant  of  officers.  He 
was  never  surprised.  Relief  only  came  to  this  suffering 
people  when  Sevier  and  Shelby  and  Campbell  destroyed  the 
left  wing  of  Cornwallis'  army  at  King's  Mountain,  and  sent 
the  whole  army  back  to  the  coast. 

The  true  character  of  Mrs.  Jackson  is  best  illustrated  by 
an  incident  near  the  close  of  the  war.  After  Robert  had 
died  and  Andrew  had  sufficiently  recovered  to  be  left,  hear- 
ing of  the  suffering  and  neglect  of  the  soldiers  at  Charleston, 
she  went — it  is  believed  she  walked — to  nurse  the  wounded 
and  sick.  The  account  is,  that  after  remaining  many 
months,  Mrs.  Jackson  was  taken  sick  with  one  of  the  mal- 
adies prevailing  in  the  hospital,  and  died.  The  only  evidence 
of  her  death,  and  the  cause  of  it,  is  that  a  small  bundle  of 
clothing  which  she  had  left  was  packed  up  and  sent  back  by 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  43 

returning  soldiers  after  the  war,  with  some  meager  account 
of  her  death. 

At  the  present  time,  with  the  means  of  traveling  and 
carrying  news,  it  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  the  difficulties 
of  getting  information  in  such  a  country  as  North  and  South 
Carolina  at  that  time.  In  after  life  General  Jackson  made 
an  earnest  effort  to  find  where  his  mother  was  buried,  but 
failed.  When  President,  he  sent  a  man  to  Charleston, 
with  such  scraps  of  information  as  he  had  about  her  service 
in  the  hospital  and  her  death,  to  find,  if  possible,  the  place 
of  her  burial,  but  not  a  trace  could  be  found.  So  the  whole 
family  are  buried  in  unknown  graves.  The  father  was 
buried  at  the  old  Waxaw  Church  graveyard,  but  there  is  no 
stone  or  board  to  mark  the  place.  General  Jackson  remem- 
bered the  farm  on  which  Robert  was  buried,  but  being  near 
death  at  the  time,  as  was  supposed,  he  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  spot,  and  never  was  able  to  find  it.  All  that  is  known 
of  Hugh  is  that  he  was  buried  in  a  soldier's  grave. 

Fleeing  from  British  oppression,  the  father,  the  mother, 
and  the  two  boys  left  Ireland  in  1765,  and  after  landing  at 
Charleston,  they  found  their  way  up  into  the  poor  piney 
woods  in  North  Carolina,  where  they  stopped  and  made  two 
crops.  In  1767  the  father  died.  The  humble  and  desti- 
tute character  of  the  home  can  be  well  imagined  when  it  is 
stated  that,  after  the  burial  of  the  husband  and  father,  the 
mother  and  two  boys  probably  never  again  returned  to  the 
home.  Turning  away  from  the  saddest  and  the  sorest  trial 
that  comes  in  this  life,  of  the  many  trials  that  come  to  pov- 
erty, the  separation  by  death  of  the  family's  protector  and 
provider,  the  mother  and  her  two  boys  started  to  go  to  the 
home  of  a  sister  in  South  Carolina.  Stopping  at  the  home 
of  Mr.  McKamy  to  stay  over  night,  the  mother  was  taken 
sick,  and  that  night  or  the  next,  Andrew  Jackson  was  born. 
A  few  weeks  later  the  mother  took  the  future  President  of 
the  United  States  in  her  arms,  with  the  other  two  little  bare- 


44  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

footed  boys,  and  found  their  way  to  the  home  of  their  kins- 
people  in  South  Carolina,  where  they  remained  until  the 
speech  that  Patrick  Henry  sent  ringing  around  the  world, 
"Give  me  liberty  or  give  me  death,"  culminated  in  the  great 
struggle  for  the  freedom  of  mankind.  The  mother  at  the 
home  of  the  brother-in-law  in  South  Carolina  was  accepted 
as  a  poor  relation,  but  was  indeed  a  servant,  while  the  two 
little  boys,  Hugh  and  Robert,  and  Andrew  when  he  got 
large  enough,  worked  on  a  farm.  It  is  pretty  well  estab- 
lished by  the  early  biographers,  who  had  the  opportunity  of 
collecting  the  facts,  that  Andrew,  while  they  were  living 
with  the  Crawford  family,  did  for  a  time  go  to  what  was 
then  known  as  an  old  field  school. 

The  early  biographers  seem  to  think  the  mother  of  the 
great  soldier  was  a  more  important  woman  than  did  Mr. 
Parton.  They  describe  Mrs.  Jackson  as  a  woman  of  fine 
character  —  that  is,  though  a  9eperf3ent  woman,  a  strong 
woman ;  and  in  her  humble  position  she  gave  much  atten- 
tion to  her  boys,  and  especially  taught  them  in  their  duties 
as  citizens.  She  was,  from  all  accounts,  as  much  a  hater 
of  the  British  as  a  good  woman  could  be.  Her  family  had 
been  literally  exterminated  or  driven  out  of  Ireland.  In 
addition  to  her  own  immediate  household,  three  of  her  sis- 
ters had  left  the  land  of  British  oppression,  and,  poor  as 
were  the  family,  they  had  all  seen  something  of  the  blessings 
of  the  new  country  where  the  people,  though  under  British 
rule,  were  so  far  away  as  to  have  substantial  freedom. 
From  1767  to  1776,  however,  there  were  constant  signs  of 
a  conflict  with  England,  and  no  three  boys,  perhaps,  were 
more  fully  indoctrinated  in  their  duty  if  the  conflict  came; 
so  much  so,  that  when  the  war  came  the  oldest,  Hugh, 
though  a  mere  boy,  took  his  gun,  went  to  the  front  with  the 
consent  of  his  mother,  and  was  killed  in  the  Battle  of  Stono, 
in  South  Carolina.  During  the  early  years  of  the  war,  the 
out-of-the-way  country  —  the  piney  woods  along  the  line 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  45 

between  North  and  South  Carolina  —  was  not  overrun  or 
even  disturbed  by  the  armies,  but  in  1780  that  devil  incar- 
nate, Tarleton,  with  a  large  force  of  cavalry,  came  into  the 
country  and  rushed  upon  a  detachment  of  militia  and  liter- 
ally massacred  them,  killing  113  and  wounding  150  more. 
The  wounded  were  carried  to  the  neighborhood  of  Waxaw 
Church,  many  of  them  severely  wounded,  and  there  Mrs. 
Jackson,  taking  her  two  boys,  Robert  and  Andrew,  took 
.charge  of  the  force  of  women  nurses,  and  showed  the  noblest 
traits  that  belong  to  a  woman's  nature. 

General  Andrew  Jackson  was  the  central  figure  and  Ten- 
nessee the  theater  of  a  play,  which  is  a  drama  nowhere  else 
seen  on  the  continent  of  America.  To  write  this  play  would 
be  to  write  the  life  of  Andrew  Jackson,  and  to  write  the  life 
of  Andrew  Jackson  would  be  to  write  the  play. 

The  people  who  were  in  the  territory — afterwards  formed 
into  the  State  of  Tennessee  —  at  the  time  Jackson,  twenty- 
one  years  old,  came,  in  which  he  at  once  became  the  leader, 
belonged  to  a  race  of  men  worthy  of  just  such  a  leader  as 
Jackson.  They  had  fought  the  battle  of  the  Alamance  in 
North  Carolina,  an  uprising  against  a  tyrant  British  Gov- 
ernor of  the  colony,  one  Trion,  in  1772,  and  which,  as  the 
British  Blue  Book,  as  well  as  the  history  of  North  Carolina, 
shows,  was  the  opening  gun  of  the  Revolution,  after  which 
they  crossed  the  mountain  and  settled  in  what  is  now  East 
Tennessee ;  '  afterwards,  under  the  leadership  of  Sevier  and 
Shelby,  they  fought  the  Battle  of  King's  Mountain,  then 
formed  a  government  of  their  own,  as  shown  in  the  next 
chapter,  and  in  1815,  such  of  them  as  were  able  to  go  to 
war  with  their  sons  were  under  Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 

Before  Jackson  came,  this  rear  guard  had  not  only  shown 
its  prowess  in  war  in  a  series  of  battles  with  the  Indians,  the 
powerful  Cherokee,  Creek,  Choctaw,  and  Shawnee  tribes, 
armed  and  sent  by  the  British  to  burn,  pillage,  and  murder 
them,  but  they  had  crossed  the  mountain  and  had  destroyed 


46  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  left  wing  of  Cornwallis'  army,  which,  under  General 
Ferguson,  was  moving  up  through  the  Carolinas,  driving 
helpless  people  before  it.  At  the  time  Jackson  came  into 
the  territory,  this  rear  guard  had  a  leader,  John  Sevier, 
courageous,  beloved,  and  a  great  soldier.  But  Jackson,  the 
born  commander  of  men,  as  if  by  common  consent,  took 
command,  was  elected  major  general  of  the  militia  over  the 
great  Indian  fighter,  Sevier,  after  having  practically  organ- 
ized the  State  of  Tennessee.  He  had  taken  a  hand  on  the 
race  course,  at  one  time  with  pistol  in  hand,  sternly  uphold- 
ing the  honor  of  the  race  course  against  his  own  friends, 
who  played  jockey  on  a  Kentucky  horse.  Being  major 
general  of  the  militia,  he  was  in  position  to  be  tried  when 
the  Indian  and  British  War  of  1812  came. 

Judging  by  success  wherever  he  drew  his  sword,  his  mili- 
tary career  is  the  most  remarkable  on  the  page  of  history. 

The  genius  that  could  raise  an  army  by  bidding  it  — 
untrained  militia  —  destroy  England's  greatest  ally,  the 
Creek  warriors,  defy  Spain  by  deposing  a  Governor  that 
permitted  the  British  to  make  his  province  a  depot  of  sup- 
plies, and  then  chastise  England's  great  army,  sending  what 
was  left  of  it  back  to  old  England  under  orders  never  to  put 
foot  on  American  soil  with  guns  in  their  hands,  which  they 
obeyed,  and  this  all  with  Tennessee  volunteers,  with  squirrel 
rifles  in  their  hands,  and  coonskin  caps  on  their  heads,  is  the 
second  act  in  a  drama  that  has  nothing  like  it. 

The  third  great  act  in  this  drama  is  the  hero  of  New  Or- 
leans as  President  of  the  United  States  vetoing  a  National 
Bank  bill  because  it  was  corrupting  Congress  and  politicians 
generally.  The  bank  had  Wall  Street  behind  it.  It  warned 
Jackson  of  the  panic  it  would  bring  and  his  own  ruin,  but 
he  persisted  and  deposited  the  public  money  in  the  State 
banks.  This  daring  act  of  the  great  Tennessean  caused 
an  uprising  in  his  home  among  the  men  who  had  known  no 
leader  except  Jackson,  men  who  had  rallied  under  him  in 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  47 

war  and  worshipped  him  in  peace.  The  outcome  was  the 
organization  of  the  Whig  party,  the  nomination  of  a  Ten- 
nessean,  Hugh  L.  White,  for  President,  in  1836,  against 
Jackson's  candidate,  Mr.  VanBuren,  which  caused  the  State 
to  fairly  crackle  with  fiery  outbursts.  To  oppose  Jackson 
was  treason;  not  to  support  his  candidate  was  little  less. 
There  came  on  the  stage,  born  of  a  new  issue,  Jackson,  and 
the  removal  of  the  deposits,  a  great  lot  of  stump  speakers, 
great  orators,  and  from  1836  to  1860,  a  period  of  twenty- 
four  years,  Tennessee  was  the  battleground.  It  developed 
James  K.  Polk,  who  became  President  of  the  United  States ; 
Andrew  Johnson,  who  became  President  of  the  United 
States.  It  developed  John  Bell,  who  was  made  the  candi- 
date of  the  Whigs  in  1860,  but  was  lost  and  left  with  only 
four  States  in  the  great  struggle  over  secession  and  war. 

In  addition,  there  was  brought  to  the  front  as  Tennessee 
orators  and  statesmen,  Ephraim  H.  Foster,  Aaron  V. 
Brown,  Isham  G.  Harris,  Landon  C.  Haynes,  Thomas  A.  R. 
Nelson,  Milton  Brown,  John  Netherland,  Bailey  Peyton, 
James  C.  Jones,  William  T.  Heiskell,  Gustavus  A.  Henry, 
Meredith  P.  Gentry,  William  G.  Brownlow,  Horace  May- 
nard,  Nat  Taylor,  Neil  S.  Brown,  Spencer  Jernegan, 
William  B.  Campbell,  William  Trousdale,  Hopkins  L. 
Turney,  A.  O.  P.  Nicholson,  John  M.  Bright,  Emerson 
Etheridge  —  the  last  two  only  living  at  this  writing. 

Taking  this  list  of  men,  all  men  of  rare  gifts  and  great 
power,  some  of  them  great  orators,  and,  considering  Jack- 
son's unequaled  popularity  in  the  State,  the  break  in  the 
ranks  over  his  bank  veto,  and  his  taking  up  Mr.  VanBuren, 
is  an  unparalleled  revolution  in  politics.  Jackson,  the  idol 
of  Tennessee,  had  eight  of  the  twenty-four,  and  the  opposi- 
tion to  Jackson  —  the  Whig  party  —  had  sixteen.  The 
Whigs  carried  the  State  in  1836,  1840,  1844,  1848,  1852, 
and  in  1860.  The  Democrats  carried  it  in  1856,  but  now 
Jackson  dead  fifty-four  years  is  the  idol  of  the  State. 


48  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

From  start  to  finish,  lasting  twenty-four  years,  there  were 
on  the  political  boards  of  Tennessee  twenty  to  twenty-five 
men  of  rarest  gifts,  all  favorites,  many  of  them  party  idols, 
possessing  every  shade  of  oratory.  Among  the  whole  there 
was  not  a  demagogue  leading  people  by  his  wits  and  ways, 
but  men  possessing  every  phase  of  oratorical  genius  known 
to  masters  of  the  art.  In  the  gifts  and  graces  of  oratory,  as 
a  rule,  they  were  on  a  high  plane,  nearly  all  great  lawyers, 
many  of  them  educated,  with  graceful  manners  and  com- 
manding presence.  Felix  Grundy,  John  Bell,  Ephraim  H. 
Foster,  Aaron  V.  Brown,  and  James  K.  Polk,  all  university 
men,  had  set  the  pace,  and  their  example  was  followed,  and 
public  speaking  kept  at  a  high  standard. 

Jackson,  living  or  dead,  in  every  scene  was  the  star,  the 
great  king  of  the  drama.  This  Jackson  play  went  down  in 
war  in  1861. 

In  writing  these  memoirs  I  shall  at  least  gratify  a  passion 
for  reviving  memories  of  the  great  actor,  and  the  immortal 
"stump  speakers,"  who  in  fiercest  battle  array  assaulted  and 
defended  a  man  who  impounded  a  Louisiana  Legislature 
while  he  whipped  a  British  army.  It  is  said  a  hive  of  bees 
will  not  work  without  a  king,  but  that  it  will  work  under  a 
dead  king  tied  up  in  the  top  of  the  gum.  Jackson  died  in 
1845,  Just  after  tne  Clay-Polk  scene,  in  which  the  men, 
women,  and  children,  from  the  great  mountains  to  the  great 
waters,  were  moving  as  if  the  fire-bells  in  every  city  and  town 
in  the  State  were  ringing.  Clay  carried  the  State  by  113 
votes.  For  the  Whigs  this  was  enough.  With  the  Dem- 
ocrats it  was  more  than  they  could  stand  —  that  the  man 
who  made  Adams  President  over  Jackson  should  come  into 
Tennessee  and  carry  the  State  over  Jackson's  candidate, 
Tennessee' s  most  distinguished  son,  was  an  offense  com- 
mitted by  the  Whigs  never  to  be  forgotten  by  Democrats. 
Having  witnessed  the  great  play,  I  shall  in  these  memoirs 
give  some  sketches  of  the  men  who  took  part  in  it. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  49 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PARTON'S  GOSSIP  ABOUT  JACKSON'S  BOYHOOD  EXPOSED  — 
MADE  A  MAJOR  GENERAL  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  ARMY 
WHEN  HE  HAD  NOT  BEEN  A  LIEUTENANT HIS  BUSI- 
NESS HABITS HIS  FIDELITY  IN  PUBLIC  OFFICE HIS 

FIGHT   WITH    BULLIES   AT   GALLATIN HIS   GROWTH    IN 

EDUCATION    FROM   OBSERVATION,  NOT  AT   SCHOOL HIS 

POWER  AS  A  LETTER  WRITER HIS  DIGNITY  AND  GRACE 

OF  MANNER. 

ANDREW  JACKSON  studied  law  at  Salisbury, 
North  Carolina,  in  1785-86,  in  the  law  office  of 
Spruce  McKay.  Parton  says  he  visited  Salisbury 
in  1859  to  gather  up  the  facts  for  the  book  he  was  writing, 
and  that  the  first  old  resident  he  met  said,  in  answer  to  a 
question  about  Jackson,  "Andrew  Jackson  was  the  most 
roaring,  rollicking,  game-cock,  horse-racing,  card-playing, 
mischievous  fellow  that  ever  lived  in  Salisbury."  Parton 
gives  a  conversation  with  an  old  colored  woman  who  remem- 
bered Jackson  as  a  boy,  but  the  aged  woman  is  too  shady  in 
her  recollections  for  the  story  to  be  of  any  value. 

He  then  gives  a  Salisbury  tradition  about  McNairy  (the 
Judge  McNairy  who  brought  Jackson  to  Tennessee),  Jack- 
son, and  Crawford,  the  three  law  students  who,  in  a  most 
disgraceful  manner,  broke  up  a  ball  and  caused  the  ladies  to 
leave  the  ball-room.  This  is  Parton's  version.  While 
Parton  professes  not  to  believe  much  that  was  said  about  the 
waywardness,  bad  manners,  and  idle  habits  of  young 
Jackson,  he  dresses  it  up  in  sensational  style.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  seventy-five  years  had  passed  when  Parton 
went  to  Salisbury  to  pick  up  sensations  about  the  boy  whose 
great  fame,  in  manhood,  had  in  forty  years  built  mountains 


50  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

out  of  mole  hills,  until  a  boyish  frolic  or  prank  —  keeping 
pace  with  the  boy's  growth  —  was  as  much  bigger  than 
when  it  started  as  Jackson  was  bigger  when  President  than 
when  he  led  the  dance  at  the  ball. 

This  growth  of  great  men's  foibles  as  their  greatness 
loosens  the  tongue  of  the  gossiper,  is  aptly  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Patrick  Henry. 

When  Wirt  wrote  the  "Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  he  got 
the  facts  about  Henry's  idle  habits  —  ignorance  of  law, 
sleeping  away  his  days  and  dancing  away  his  nights,  making 
nothing  by  his  profession,  and  incapable  of  drawing  the 
simplest  court  paper  —  from  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  he  says : 

"Mr.  Jefferson  was  eight  or  ten  years  younger  than 
Henry,  and  when  on  his  way  to  college  he  spent  a  few  days 
in  the  town  where  Henry  lived  —  a  man  with  a  wife  and 
two  or  three  children,  and  boarding  with  his  father-in-law, 
who  kept  a  tavern  —  and  while  there  he  gathered  up  what 
the  gossips  had  to  say  about  the  fun  and  frolic,  the  happy- 
go-merry  life  of  a  married  young  lawyer  who  went  to  the 
balls  and  danced  with  the  girls." 

What  Mr.  Jefferson  learned  there  stayed  with  him,  and 
without  knowing  the  other  side  he  gave  it  to  Mr.  Wirt, 
saying  that  but  for  his  father-in-law  his  family  would  have 
suffered.  These  stories  did  not  grow  any  less  with  time, 
and  affected  the  entire  character  of  Patrick  Henry,  and  do 
to  this  day.  This  was  always  a  surprise  to  every  man  who 
found  by  reading  what  a  profound  thinker  and  great  lawyer 
Patrick  Henry  was.  His  speech  in  the  Virginia  Conven- 
tion opposing  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution,  is  regarded 
as  among  the  most  profound  and  powerful  logical  speeches 
ever  made  by  any  man. 

Whoever  makes  a  study  of  Patrick  Henry  will  find  that 
the  impression  made  by  Mr.  Wirt  —  based  mainly  upon 
information  given  him  by  Mr.  Jefferson  —  that  he  was  an 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  51 

orator  simply,  will  wake  up  to  the  surprise  that  Henry  was 
a  great  student,  a  profound  thinker,  and  one  of  the  greatest 
lawyers  that  Virginia  ever  produced. 

The  account  book  of  Patrick  Henry  has  been  found — dug 
up  from  the  waste  of  time ;  a  book  nicely  kept  in  his  own 
handwriting,  showing  every  lawsuit  he  had  the  first  four 
years  of  his  practice,  every  fee  he  collected  from  all  the 
wrork  he  did.  During  these  four  years  he  had  1,100  and 
odd  cases ;  he  made  money  rapidly  and  lent  his  father-in-law 
a  considerable  amount  of  money,  and  his  briefs  show  that 
he  argued  his  cases  with  great  ability.  All  these  facts  are 
shown  by  Mr.  Tyler,  who  has  written  the  life  of  Patrick 
Henry;  and  he  further  shows  by  Mr.  Jefferson's  account 
book  that,  while  Henry  had  1,100  and  odd  cases  in  court 
the  first  four  years  of  his  practice,  Mr.  Jefferson  in  the  first 
four  years  of  his  practice  had  something  over  400  cases. 

This  conflict  I  do  not  undertake  to  reconcile,  but  give  it 
from  the  two  lives  of  the  same  man.  In  a  legal  sense,  the 
day-book  kept  by  Henry  in  his  own  handwriting  would 
have  the  preference,  but  readers  who  are  curious  about 
reconciling  conflicts  must  decide  for  themselves  as  to  the 
truth  of  history. 

As  major  general  of  the  militia  from  1801  to  1814,  when 
he  was  made  a  Major  General  in  the  United  States  Army, 
General  Jackson  was  most  efficient,  and  out  of  the  militia  he 
made  a  splendid  army.  While  he  remained  in  Congress, 
first  in  the  House  and  then  in  the  Senate,  he  was  faithful. 
In  the  convention  that  made  our  Constitution  in  1796,  he 
was  the  most  efficient  worker.  As  a  lawyer,  his  attention 
to  business  secured  him  the  collecting  business  of  the  mer- 
chants generally,  and  by  which  he  made  the  start  that  grew 
to  be  a  fortune  for  that  time.  Parton,  himself,  shows  his 
character  as  a  business  man  when  a  merchant,  by  showing 
that  the  best  men  in  the  city  could  not  borrow  money  in 
Philadelphia  until  they  got  Jackson  to  sign  the  paper ;  that 


52  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

they  were  told  if  they  would  get  Jackson's  name,  they  could 
get  what  they  wanted,  and  they  did  get  it. 

In  the  army  there  was  never  an  idle  day ;  he  looked  into 
the  details  of  everything,  and  was  the  most  reliable  corre- 
spondent and  voluminous  letter-writer  of  all  our  public  men. 
It  is  impossible  that  he  could  have  been  the  young  man  that 
Parton  describes.  Besides,  Parton  shows  that  he  taught 
school  before  he  went  to  Salisbury.  Jackson  himself,  while 
President,  when  reminded  by  a  friend  from  Salisbury  that 
he  had  once  lived  there,  said,  "Yes,  I  was  but  a  raw  lad  then, 
but  I  did  the  best  I  could." 

Nothing  is  more  marked  in  the  life  of  this  man  of  mark 
than  his  business  habits.  At  one  time,  early  in  life,  he 
became  the  surety  of  a  friend  at  Jonesboro,  a  man  supposed 
to  be  rich,  but  who  failed  shortly  before  the  notes  became 
due ;  it  was  a  Philadelphia  house,  and  for  $6,000.  It  was 
the  time  of  a  panic,  when  it  seemed  impossible  to  raise 
money.  None  of  Jackson's  friends  believed,  nor  did  the 
Philadelphia  house  believe,  he  could  pay  it;  but  when  the 
day  came  he  had  every  dollar  of  the  money  —  gold  and 
silver  —  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  paid  the  debt. 
This  did  much  to  establish  a  credit,  which  was  as  steady  all 
through  life  as  his  nerve.  He  quit  merchandizing  —  sold 
out  to  his  partner,  John  Coffee,  taking  Coffee's  notes  for  a 
large  amount,  and  when  Coffee  afterwards  married  the  niece 
of  his  wife,  the  night  of  the  wedding  he  made  a  present  of 
all  the  notes  to  the  bride. 

When  he  disobeyed  the  orders  of  the  Secretary  of  War  at 
Natchez  and  refused  to  disband  his  army,  and  the  Govern- 
ment ordered  all  the  supplies  and  transportation  turned  over 
to  General  Wilkinson  at  New  Orleans,  and  as  Jackson 
believed  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  his  volunteers  into  the 
regular  army,  he  ordered  the  recruiting  officers  sent  up  by 
General  Wilkinson,  out  of  the  camp,  called  a  council  of  war 
simply  to  notify  his  officers  that  he  was  not  going  to  obey 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  53 

the  orders  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  when  warned  of 
the  lack  of  means  to  march  his  army  back  to  Nashville,  he 
said:  "We  can  live  on  our  horses  back  to  the  Tennessee 
line,  and  the  home  people  will  then  take  care  of  us."  But 
with  his  own  individual  credit  he  supplied  transportation, 
bought  shoes  for  the  army,  and  fed  his  soldiers  back  to 
Nashville;  he  used  his  credit  far  beyond  his  estate,  though 
he  was  then  a  rich  man  for  a  new  country.  When  he  died 
he  was  the  owner  of  several  cotton  plantations  in  the  South, 
and  had  150  negro  slaves.  This  is  the  man  that  Parton 
says  lacked  business  ability. 

The  three  young  men  that  studied  law  in  the  same  office 
at  Salisbury  —  McNairy,  Crawford,  and  Jackson  —  came 
to  Tennessee  about  the  same  time.  McNairy  and  Jackson 
traveled  together,  stopping  at  Jonesboro  for  a  short  time; 
they  then  went  down  to  Greeneville,  and  were  sworn  in  as 
lawyers.  They  reached  Nashville,  as  shown,  in  October, 
1788.  McNairy  came  with  the  assurance  of  friends,  who 
had  the  confidence  of  the  Government  at  Philadelphia,  that 
as  soon  as  the  bill,  then  pending  before  Congress,  creating 
a  judicial  district  for  this  territory  passed,  he  would  be 
appointed  judge,  and  it  was  well  understood  between 
McNairy  and  Jackson  that  the  latter  would  be  district 
attorney.  The  bill  did  not  pass  until  the  next  year,  when 
McNairy  was  made  judge  and  Jackson  was  made  prosecut- 
ing attorney,  signing  his  indictments  as  "attorney  general." 
The  judicial  system  was  crude,  and  cases  were  tried  in  what 
corresponded  to  the  county  court,  after  the  State  govern- 
ment was  formed.  Criminal  cases,  and  perhaps  others, 
were  tried  by  juries.  Jackson  had  two  courts  in  what  was 
then  called  West  Tennessee,  one  at  Nashville  and  one  at 
Gallatin,  besides  one  at  Jonesboro,  one  at  Greeneville,  and 
one  at  Knoxville. 

There  is  a  well-established  incident  in  the  life  of  Jackson 
during  the  first  years  of  his  term  as  attorney  general  which 


54  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

his  several  biographers  failed  to  pick  up.  The  facts  were 
first  given  me  by  Judge  Jo  C.  Guild,  who  said  that  when  he 
came  to  the  bar  at  Gallatin — which  must  have  been  as  early 
as  1825 — there  was  an  old  court  record  in  the  county  court 
clerk's  office,  an  entry,  the  date  being  shortly  after  Jackson 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  in  about  these  words : 
"The  Court  thanks  Andrew  Jackson  for  his  brave  conduct." 
Curious  to  know  something  more  about  the  entry,  he  heard 
of  two  old  men  who  were  still  living  who  had  been  members 
of  the  county  court  at  the  time  Jackson  was  attorney  gen- 
eral; that  he  hunted  them  up  and  asked  them  what  the 
entry  meant,  when  they  gave  him  this  account : 


That  there  was  a  gang  of  bullies  in  the  county,  who  on 
public  days  got  up  fights  and  committed  other  offenses  and 
then  bullied  the  court  and  refused  to  be  tried ;  that  up  to  the 
time  Jackson  went  there  as  attorney  general,  the  justices 
holding  the  court  had  been  dominated  by  these  bullies ;  that 
Jackson  had  full  information  before  he  came  of  the  condi- 
tion ;  that  he  came  on  horseback,  hitched  his  horse  and  came 
into  court,  which  had  already  been  opened,  and  getting  his 
docket  looked  over  the  cases,  and  the  first  thing  he  did  was 
to  call  one  of  the  cases  in  which  the  defendants  had  refused 
to  be  tried ;  that  the  defendant  came  up  and  said  he  was  not 
going  to  be  tried." 

Judge  Guild's  remembrance  was  that  the  old  men  who 
had  been  on  the  bench  at  the  time  said  that  Jackson  in  a 
mild  way  remonstrated  with  the  man  about  his  case,  and 
told  him  that  the  case  had  to  be  tried ;  that  as  an  officer  he 
was  obliged  to  try  it ;  that  the  defendant  used  offensive  lan- 
guage and  said  no  court  could  try  him;  that  thereupon 
Jackson  pulled  his  saddlebags  out  from  under  the  table  and 
took  out  two  large  pistols  —  such  as  travelers  carried  —  and 
laid  them  on  the  table.  The  bully  grabbed  at  the  pistols, 
and  the  struggle  between  him  and  Jackson  led  to  a  general 
fight.  The  good  citizens,  being  inspired  by  the  courage  of 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  55 

young  Jackson,  fell  in  and  whipped  out  the  whole  crowd. 
Jackson  and  his  man  having  fallen  out  the  door,  Jackson  held 
to  him  and  brought  him  back  and  tried  him,  and  when  it 
was  all  over  the  Court  ordered  the  clerk  to  put  on  the  min- 
utes what  Judge  Guild  assured  me  he  had  seen :  "The  Court 
thanks  Andrew  Jackson  for  his  brave  conduct."  \ 

I  now  have  before  me  Judge  Guild's  "Parton^s  Life  of 
Andrew  Jackson,"  and  on  the  margin  of  pages  136-37  of  the 
first  volume,  in  Judge  Guild's  handwriting,  is  a  pencil 
memorandum  showing  the  facts  in  brief  —  in  substance  as 
I  have  here  stated  them  —  and  especially  giving  the  words 
of  the  order  of  the  minutes. 

Judge  Guild  always  maintained  that  in  the  early  days  a 
fighting  lawyer  was  highly  appreciated  by  his  clients,  and 
that  this  exhibition  at  Gallatin  had  much  to  do  in  giving 
Jackson  the  large  collecting  business  which  he  had. 

From  all  the  evidence  that  can  be  gathered  up,  and  from 
reports  that  came  down  to  the  old  men  of  the  present  gen- 
eration, Jackson  was  a  most  vigilant  prosecuting  officer.  A 
good  many  of  his  indictments  have  been  gathered  up,  and 
they  are  good  common-law  indictments. 

The  two  historians,  Ramsey  and  Putnam,  disagree  as  to 
whether  Jackson  was  in  General  Robertson's  expedition 
against  the  Indians,  known  as  the  Nickajack  Campaign, 
1 794.  Ramsey  says  he  was  in  the  expedition,  but  Putnam 
in  his  history  of  Middle  Tennessee  says  he  was  not.  Parton 
follows  Putnam,  and  makes  the  following  statement,  which 
I  copy  for  a  double  purpose : 


"His  absence  from  the  expedition  is  easily  accounted  for. 
Besides  being  in  the  full  tide  of  a  most  extensive  and  labori- 
ous practice,  he  held  an  important  office  under  the  very 
administration  which  forbade  such  expeditions.  It  was 
his  official  duty  to  suppress  such  expeditions  —  not  join 
in  them.  When  Tennessee  became  a  territory  of  the  United 
States,  the  circuit  solicitor,  naturally  enough,  became  the 


56  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

district  attorney.  Hence,  doubtless,  the  absence  on  such 
an  occasion  of  the  most  warlike  personage  in  the  Western 
country." 

"The  full  tide  of  a  most  extensive  and  laborious  prac- 
tice," is  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  other  statement,  that 
"he  was  a  failure  in  everything  until  he  was  forty-five  years 
of  age,  and  knew  no  law." 

In  1776  General  Jackson  was  in  the  convention  that 
formed  the  first  Constitution  for  Tennessee.  The  two  dele- 
gates from  each  county  were,  under  a  resolution,  to  name 
two  members  to  draft  the  Constitution.  Judge  McNairy 
and  Andrew  Jackson  were  put  on  the  committee  for  David- 
son County.  Jackson  was  a  most  efficient  member,  and 
has  the  reputation  of  having  suggested  the  name  for  the 
State,  which  was  adopted.  Mr.  Jefferson  paid  a  high  com- 
pliment to  this  convention  by  saying,  "the  Constitution 
was  the  most  thoroughly  republican  of  all  the  State  Con- 
stitutions." The  delegates  from  Davidson  County  were 
James  Robertson,  Judge  McNairy,  Andrew  Jackson,  Joel 
Lewis,  and  Thomas  Hardeman. 

The  Legislature  that  directed  the  Governor  to  call  the 
convention  had  fixed  the  compensation  at  $2.50  per  day, 
but  the  convention  itself  made  a  change  and  took  each  $1.50 
per  day.  The  Convention  sat  twenty-seven  days.  The 
building  was  fitted  up  for  the  reception  of  the  members  at 
a  cost  of  $12 — $10  for  seats,  the  balance  for  a  piece  of  oil 
cloth  to  cover  the  table. 

Shortly  before  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union 
great  expense  had  been  incurred  by  Sevier  in  fighting  the 
Indians,  and  in  disregard  of  the  orders  at  Philadelphia  to 
keep  out  of  a  war  with  the  Indians,  for  the  Government 
was  impatiently  anxious  to  avoid  collisions  with  them. 
The  knowledge  that  the  Government  was  refusing  to  pay 
the  soldiers  who  had  protected  the  frontiers  was  producing 
much  feeling,  which  was  intensified  by  a  dispute  with  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  57 

Cherokee  Indians  on  a  question  of  boundary,  in  which  it 
was  understood  the  Government  at  Philadelphia  was  taking 
sides  with  the  Indians. 

Jackson  had  by  this  time  made  such  an  impression  on  the 
70,000  people  in  the  State,  that  by  common  consent  he  was 
elected  to  the  Lower  House  of  Congress.  In  the  fall  he  \ 
left,  going  horseback,  and  reached  Philadelphia  in  Decem- 
ber, 1796.  In  the  House  at  the  time  were  Fisher  Ames, 
of  Massachusetts;  Albert  Gallatin,  of  Pennsylvania;  James 
Madison,  of  Virginia;  and  Edward  Livingstone,  of  New 
York.  In  after  years,  and  when  Jackson  became  famous 
as  a  soldier,  Albert  Gallatin  describes  him,  when  he  first 
saw  him  as  the  member  from  "the  new  State  of  Tennessee," 
as  a  "tall,  lank,  uncouth-looking  personage,  with  long  locks 
of  hair  hanging  over  his  face,  and  a  que  down  his  back 
tied  with  an  eel  skin;  his  dress  irregular;  his  manners  and 
deportment  those  of  a  backwoodsman." 

In  this  narrative  I  may  be  allowed  to  stop  and  point  out 
one  of  the  many  phases  of  character  in  the  life  of  this 
strange  man — rather  the  growth  of  character.  His  edu- 
cation was  a  lifetime  business ;  how  he  acquired  sufficient  cul- 
ture to  start  life  in  one  of  the  learned  professions  will  forever 
remain  a  mystery.  But,  entering  upon  his  profession  at 
Nashville,  he  certainly  did  take  rank  as  a  man  capable  of 
accomplishing  results  which  no  other  member  of  the  bar 
had  reached.  Nothing  marks  his  growth  more  than  his 
correspondence;  always  a  voluminous  letter-writer,  his 
tracks  can  be  seen  at  almost  every  step  he  took.  I  have 
before  me  now  one  of  his  letters,  written  four  months  after 
he  came  to  Nashville ;  and  another  written  two  years  before 
he  died — a  period  of  fifty-five  years;  and  I  have  read  his 
letters  scattered  over  that  period  —  letters  on  public  affairs, 
on  private  matters,  written  from  the  camp  and  the  White 
House,  letters  written  to  enemies  seeking  his  overthrow, 
and  letters  written  in  the  loving  friendship  with  a  remem- 


58  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

brance  of  ties  formed  in  scenes  never  to  be  forgotten.  His 
early  letters  are  crude,  showing  an  awkward  strength,  inapt 
words,  and  upon  the  whole  a  want  of  language.  Out  of 
this  he  grew  rapidly — astonishingly.  His  letter  to  the 
Governor  of  Tennessee  in  1813,  written  on  a  box  for  a 
table  in  the  Indian  Nation,  differing  with  the  Governor  in 
the  mode  of  conducting  the  war  against  the  Creek  Indians, 
and  which  I  shall  publish  in  full  in  its  proper  place,  and 
which,  if  it  did  not  make  new  maps,  made  nearly  all  the 
history  of  this  country  since  it  was  written,  is  apt  in  ex- 
pression, masterly  in  argument,  smooth  in  style,  and  that 
it  is  his  own  production  is  verified  by  thousands  of  other 
letters  afterwards  written,  making,  in  all,  a  style  that  no 
man  of  his  day  could  imitate. 

Much  has  been  written  by  his  biographer  enemies  to  dis- 
credit his  powers,  and  especially  to  deny  him  the  credit  of 
his  own  state  papers,  as  well  as  his  almost  unequalled  claim 
as  a  letter-writer.  These  biographers  proved  too  much. 
If  this  theory  be  true,  then  he  was  blessed  through  a  long  life, 
and  almost  every  day,  with  amanuenses,  as  was  never  man 
before.  In  maturity  he  was  not  only  a  companionable 
man  of  easy  manners,  but  graceful  and  elegant.  His  life 
abounds  with  surprises.  Whether  he  lacked  the  graces  of 
the  gentleman  in  early  manhood,  it  is  true  he  was  put  be- 
fore the  world  as  Albert  Gallatin  put  him — an  awkward 
specimen  of  manhood.  One  of  the  pleasing  incidents  of 
his  life,  noted  by  his  early  biographers,  is  his  visit  to  the 
family  of  Edward  Livingstone  when  he  reached  New  Or- 
leans, at  the  head  of  his  army  in  the  early  days  of  Decem- 
ber, 1814.  He  was  then  just  turned  the  meridian  of  life; 
he  had  ridden  horseback  from  Mobile,  and  was  still  suffer- 
ing from  his  gunshot  wounds  inflicted  in  the  fight  with  the 
Bentons.  His  wardrobe  was  somewhat  scant,  and  he  was 
tired.  He  was  met  on  his  arrival  by  the  accomplished 
Edward  Livingstone,  who  had  served  with  him  in  Congress 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  59 

..... 

I 

at  the  time  Albert  Gallatin  saw  him.     Mr.  Livingstone  had 

left  New  York  and  gone  to  New  Orleans  to  practice  law, 
and  was  the  leading  citizen  of  the  then  aristocratic  city. 
General  Jackson  knew  what  was  before  him ;  that  the  prep- 
aration of  the  city  was  a  herculean  task. 

Mr.  Livingstone,  who  was  until  the  end  of  the  campaign 
his  closest  and  most  valuable  aid,  tendered  his  services  and 
took  a  place  on  the  General's  staff.  But  the  first  thing  was 
to  invite  him  to  dinner,  and  at  once  sent  a  note  to  Mrs. 
Livingstone  that  General  Jackson  would  be  out  to  dinner 
with  him.  It  was  the  most  elegant  home  in  New  Orleans, 
and  Mrs.  Livingstone  was  the  leader  in  society.  She  af- 
terwards told  the  story  herself.  She  said  that  when  the 
word  came  that  they  were  to  have  the  backwoods,  chicken- 
fighting,  horse-racing  General  to  dinner,  she  had  with  her 
a  number  of  young  ladies — Creoles — the  most  elegant  and 
handsome  young  ladies  of  the  city,  and  they  were  all  in  a 
flurry  about  entertaining  the  rough  specimen  they  knew 
him  to  be.  But  when  the  backwoods  General  came  with 
Mr.  Livingstone,  the  wife  met  him  at  the  door;  she  intro- 
duced him  to  the  young  ladies;  then  he  led  her  to  a  seat, 
engaged  her  in  pleasing  conversation,  and  at  the  table  and 
for  a  couple  of  hours  he  made  himself  most  agreeable,  and 
when  he  left  the  ladies,  in  a  general  confab,  decided  that  he 
was  the  most  elegant  and  graceful  man  they  had  ever  seen. 

A  little  fairy  story  got  into  the  papers,  at  a  later  period, 
coming  from  the  home  of  Mr.  Livingstone  —  his  beautiful 
home  —  and  the  nymph-like  Creole  girls  that  Mrs.  Living- 
stone made  her  companions. 

In  one  of  the  battles  which  General  Jackson  fought  before 
the  8th  of  January  to  keep  Packinham's  army  back  till  he 
was  ready  to  fight  —  it  was  the  battle  of  the  23d  of  Decem- 
ber, fought  in  the  night  and  a  hand-to-hand  fight  —  there 
were  many  British  wounded  and  left  on  the  field. 

Among  others  picked  up  by  Jackson's  soldiers  next  morn- 


60  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

ing  was  an  officer  who  had  been  terribly  wounded,  and  from 
the  wound  and  exposure  was  delirious.  When  brought  into 
the  city  his  rank  and  general  appearance  impressed  Mrs. 
Livingstone  that  he  was  a  gentleman,  and  she  had  him  taken 
to  her  home,  where  by  the  closest  attention  he  recovered 
after  months  of  careful  watching.  The  war  was  over,  but 
a  grateful  man  he  returned  to  his  own  country.  Years 
afterwards,  and  when  Mr.  Livingstone  was  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  Mrs.  Livingstone  was  a  leader  in  society 
at  Washington,  this  British  officer  came  back  to  America, 
went  to  Washington,  and  of  course  called  to  see  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingstone. On  the  happy  occasion  of  meeting  again  the 
woman  who  had  saved  his  life,  he  said  to  her  what  at  first 
surprised  her  —  that  in  all  that  kindness  there  was  one  sur- 
prise that  came  to  him  that  was  not  a  pleasure.  He  said 
that  as  consciousness  was  gradually  restored  he  could  only 
remember  the  battle,  the  shock  and  the  fall  from  his  horse, 
and  then  the  full  realization  came  to  him  that  he  died  on  the 
battlefield;  and  his  eyes  falling  on  the  beautiful  paintings 
hung  on  the  walls,  white  as  snow,  and  with  beautiful  women 
standing  about  his  bed  ministering  to  him,  he  fully  realized, 
as  much  as  he  will  when  the  last  day  comes,  that  he  had 
crossed  over  the  River  —  had  come  into  the  beautiful  man- 
sions in  the  skies,  and  that  the  angels  were  there  to  bid  him 
welcome;  and  that  when  the  illusion  vanished,  and  this  old 
world  took  the  place  of  this  beautiful  vision,  and  life  with 
all  its  sorrows  came  back  to  him  instead  of  a  mansion  with 
the  angels,  there  came  a  deep,  regretful  sense  of  mortality, 
instead  of  immortality. 

Asking  pardon  for  this  digression,  I  will  return  and  take 
up  Jackson  as  Albert  Gallatin  saw  him  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives in  1796. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  61 


CHAPTER  V. 

HIS   RECORD  AS  A   CONSTITUTION   MAKER HIS  RECORD  IN 

LOWER    HOUSE    OF    CONGRESS HIS    FIRST    SPEECH    IN 

FULL ACCOMPLISHED     WHAT     HE    WENT    TO    DO     AND 

RESIGNED THEN    IN    THE    SENATE    AND    RESIGNED 

JUDGE  IN   SUPREME  COURT,  BUT  RESIGNED. 

GENERAL  JACKSON'S  record  in  the  House  of 
Representatives  is  characteristic.  Nothing  could 
be  more  so.  All  his  life  his  habit  was,  if  he  went 
at  a  thing,  to  do  it,  and  go  at  something  else.  He  had  been 
elected  to  Congress  because  there  was  a  unanimous  voice 
that  he  was  the  man  to  put  before  Congress  and  have  settled 
the  claim  which  the  Government  had  refused  to  pay  for 
more  than  three  years — a  claim  which  meant  to  pay  soldiers 
who  had  served  under  Sevier  in  the  Indian  wars  of  1793. 
This  refusal  was  irritating  because  of  the  feeling  among  the 
people  of  the  new  State  growing  out  of  the  conduct  of  the 
Government  in  refusing  to  protect  the  frontier  settlements 
against  continued  attacks  by  the  Indians,  and  especially  for 
refusing  to  give  consent  to  the  people  of  the  territory  on  the 
Watauga,  Nolachucky,  and  Cumberland,  to  raise  an  army 
among  themselves,  and  make  war  on  the  Indians.  So 
frequent,  so  stealthy,  and  so  cruel  were  these  invasions,  that 
perhaps  no  other  frontier  settlement  would  have  remained 
and  submitted  to  the  sacrifices  these  people  did.  Sixty- 
three  people  in  all  had  been  killed  in  settling  Nashville,  by 
Indians  running  in  on  them  at  night,  besides  those  killed  in 
East  Tennessee.  An  earnest  effort  was  made  to  get  the 
Government,  as  it  did  not  protect  the  frontiers,  to  let  the 
people  on  the  frontiers  raise  an  army  and  defend  the  help- 
less, but  such  was  the  fear  of  a  general  uprising  of  the 


62  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Indians  that  the  Government  refused  to  give  any  permission 
to  these  people  to  raise  an  army  and  defend  themselves. 
This  was  a  deplorable  condition  and  keenly  felt  by  the  citi- 
zens —  the  new  comers,  who  had  to  submit  to  it.  General 
Robertson  did,  in  violation  of  Government  orders,  raise  an 
army  at  Nashville  and  fight  the  battle  at  Nickajack,  on  the 
Tennessee  River,  near  where  Chattanooga  now  is.  This 
was  in  1794. 

Sevier,  in  1793,  had  raised  armies  and  had  been  in  several 
campaigns  against  the  Indians. 

It  was  a  great  compliment  to  Jackson — then  only  twenty- 
nine  years  old  —  to  be  unanimously  chosen  by  the  people  of 
the  State  to  Congress,  and  secure  what  they  felt  had  been  a 
great  wrong  to  refuse  —  that  is,  payment  for  soldiers  in  the 
campaigns  under  Sevier. 

To  test  the  question,  it  had  been  arranged  that  Hugh  L. 
White,  who  had  been  under  Sevier  in  his  campaigns  (this 
was  he  who  ran  against  Mr.  VanBuren  for  President  in 
1836,  breaking  away  from  Jackson  and  leading  the  host  that 
formed  the  Whig  party),  should  make  a  claim  for  compen- 
sation. There  was  no  reason  why  the  test  should  be  made 
on  young  White,  who  had  been  a  private  under  Sevier, 
except  he  had  shown  marked  courage  in  killing  a  noted 
Indian  chief,  King  Fisher,  in  battle.  His  petition  for 
compensation  was  forwarded  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  who 
sent  it  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  it  was  referred 
to  a  committee,  who  reported  all  the  facts  and  left  it  to  the 
House,  and  it  came  before  the  Committee  of  the  Whole,  and 
was  passed. 

The  record  shows  that  Mr.  A.  Jackson  rose  and  said : 

"Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  doubt  that  by  a  recurrence  to  the 
papers  presented,  it  will  appear  evident  that  the  measures 
pursued  on  the  occasion  were  both  just  and  necessary. 
When  it  was  seen  that  war  was  forced  upon  the  State,  that 
the  knife  and  the  tomahawk  were  held  over  the  heads  of 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  63 

women  and  children,  and  that  peaceable  citizens  were  mur- 
dered, it  was  time  to  make  resistance.  Some  of  the  asser- 
tions of  the  Secretary  of  War  were  not  founded  in  fact,  par- 
ticularly with  respect  to  the  expedition  having  been  under- 
taken for  the  avowed  purpose  of  carrying  the  war  into  the 
Cherokee  country.  Indeed,  those  assertions  are  contra- 
dicted by  a  reference  to  General  Sevier's  letter  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War.  I  trust  it  will  not  be  presuming  too  much 
when  I  say,  that  from  being  an  inhabitant  of  the  country,  I 
have  some  knowledge  of  this  business.  From  June  to  the 
end  of  October,  the  militia  acted  entirely  on  the  defensive, 
when  1,200  Indians  came  upon  them  and  carried  their 
station,  and  threatened  to  carry  the  seat  of  government.  In 
such  a  state  of  things  would  the  Secretary,  upon  whom  the 
executive  power  rested  in  the  absence  of  the  Governor,  have 
been  justified  had  he  not  adopted  the  measure  he  did  of  pur- 
suing the  enemy  ?  I  believe  he  would  not.  I  believe  the 
expedition  was  just  and  necessary,  and  that  the  claim  of  Mr. 
White  ought  to  be  granted.  I,  therefore,  propose  a  resolu- 
tion to  the  following  effect." 

This  is  the  resolution : 

"Resolved,  That  General  Sevier's  expedition  into  the 
Cherokee  Nation,  in  the  year  1793,  was  a  just  and  necessary 
measure,  and  that  provision  ought  to  be  made  by  law  for 
paying  the  expenses  thereof." 

It  was  proposed  to  refer  the  matter  to  the  Committee  on 
Claims,  to  which  Mr.  Jackson  objected,  and  said: 

"I  own  that  I  am  not  very  well  acquainted  with  the  rules 
of  the  House,  but  from  the  best  idea  I  can  form  this  would 
be  a  very  circuitous  mode  of  doing  business.  Why  now 
refer  it  to  the  Committee  on  Claims,  when  all  the  facts  are 
stated  in  this  report,  I  know  not.  If  this  is  the  usual  mode 
of  doing  business,  I  hope  it  will  not  be  referred." 

On  the  day  following  he  presented  a  petition  from  George 
Colbut,  a  Cherokee  chief,  who  asked  compensation  for  sup- 
plies furnished  by  his  tribe  to  a  detachment  of  Tennessee 


64  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

volunteers.       This  petition  was  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Claims. 

Afterwards  the  petition  of  Mr.  White  again  came  up. 
The  resolution  which  Mr.  Jackson  had  offered  the  previous 
day  came  up,  when  Mr.  Jackson  again  addressed  the  House, 
and  said : 

"The  rations  found  for  the  troops  of  this  expedition  have 
been  paid  for  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  I  can  see  no 
reasonable  objection  to  the  payment  of  the  whole  expense. 
As  the  troops  were  called  out  by  a  superior  officer,  they  had 
no  right  to  doubt  his  authority.  Admit  a  contrary  doc- 
trine, and  it  will  strike  at  the  very  root  of  subordination. 
It  would  be  saying  to  soldiers,  'Before  you  obey  the  com- 
mand of  your  superior  officer,  you  have  a  right  to  inquire 
into  the  legality  of  the  service  upon  which  you  are  about  to 
be  employed,  and  until  you  are  satisfied  you  may  refuse  to 
take  the  field.'  This,  I  believe,  is  a  principle  which  cannot 
be  acted  upon.  General  Sevier  was  bound  to  obey  the 
orders  which  he  had  received,  to  undertake  the  expedition. 
The  officers  under  him  were  obliged  to  obey  him.  They 
went  with  full  confidence  that  the  United  States  would  pay 
them,  believing  that  the  United  States  had  appointed  such 
officers  as  would  not  call  them  into  the  field  without  proper 
authority.  If  even  the  expedition  had  been  unconstitu- 
tional — which  I  am  far  from  believing  —  it  ought  not  to 
affect  the  soldier,  since  he  had  no  choice  in  the  business, 
being  obliged  tc  obey  his  superior.  Indeed,  as  the  pro- 
visions have  been  paid  for,  and  as  the  ration  and  pay-rolls 
are  always  considered  as  a  check  upon  each  other,  I  hope 
no  objection  will  be  made  to  the  resolution  which  I  have 
moved. 

"By  referring  to  the  report,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  has  stated  that  to  allow  the  prayer  of  this  peti- 
tion would  be  to  establish  a  principle  that  will  apply  to  the 
whole  of  the  militia  in  that  expedition ;  if  this  petitioner's 
claim  is  a  just  one,  therefore,  the  present  petition  ought  to 
go  to  the  whole,  as  it  is  unnecessary  for  every  soldier 
employed  on  that  expedition  to  apply  personally  to  this 
House  for  compensation." 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  65 

Mr.  Madison  then  made  a  speech  urging  the  payment, 
and  the  whole  matter  was  referred  to  a  special  committee, 
Mr.  Jackson  being  chairman.  The  report  was  favorable, 
and  the  committee  recommended  the  payment  of  $22,816, 
and  the  report  was  adopted. 

This  proceeding  is  taken  from  the  House  Journal.  The 
speeches  here  used  are  a  part  of  the  record,  simply  copied; 
they  are  appropriate,  short,  concise  in  the  statement  of  facts, 
clear  and  sound  in  law  —  a  principle  of  law  clearly  stated, 
which  has  often  since  been  the  subject  of  contention  in  the 
courts,  and  is  now  well  established. 

This  was  a  fine  beginning,  and  is  noted  as  the  first  appear- 
ance in  the  House  of  a  member  from  the  territory  west  of 
the  Alleghany  Mountains. 

During  the  entire  session,  this  is  all  he  seems  to  have 
said;  he  accomplished  what  he  went  to  do,  and  did  not 
return  to  the  second  session.  This  proceeding,  taken  from 
the  record,  will  be  read  with  interest  by  critics  whose  ideas 
of  Jackson's  gross  ignorance  in  law  and  as  a  speaker  taken 
from  Parton  and  Sumner. 

In  all  the  canvasses  which  General  Jackson  made  for 
President  —  in  1824,  1828,  and  1832  —  a  great  clamor  was 
raised  against  him,  as  was  then  said,  by  his  vote  to  dishonor 
Washington.  In  these  contests  it  was  put  in  every  con- 
ceivable shape  to  excite  feeling  among  the  masses,  who 
adored  the  name  of  Washington,  and  nothing  in  Jackson's 
career  gave  his  friends  more  trouble  than  the  negative 
vote  —  one  of  twelve  —  on  endorsing  Washington's 
administration. 

A  committee  of  the  House  had  prepared  an  extravagant 
(at  least  extravagant  in  language)  eulogy  on  Washington's 
administration.  In  the  debate  the  criticism  was  mainly  on 
superlative  adjectives.  To  some  there  was  a  feeling  of 
opposition  on  account  of  Jay's  treaty,  and  because  Wash- 
ington was  supposed  to  sympathize  with  England  in  oppo- 

5 


66  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

sition  to  France,  and  because  the  Administration  had  not 
been  pronounced  in  the  struggle  the  frontiers  were  having 
with  the  Indians;  but  undoubtedly  Jackson's  vote,  as  was 
the  vote  of  eleven  others,  meant  Jefferson  over  Washington. 

A  vacancy  occurring  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States 
in  1797,  the  Governor  appointed  Jackson  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
He  was  sworn  in,  never  voted  on  any  question,  resigned, 
and  came  home.  Various  causes  interfered  to  postpone  the 
business  of  the  Senate,  which  Jackson  did  not  enjoy. 

This  record  in  Congress  will  be  a  surprise  to  many  people. 
Jackson  was  in  the  House  alone,  sent  for  a  special  purpose, 
as  is  shown.  I  can  submit  this  record  with  confidence  that 
it  will  dispel  the  illusion,  and  do  away  with  much  of  the 
unkind  criticism  attempting  to  show  that  Jackson  was  inca- 
pable of  making  a  speech.  His  short  history  in  the  con- 
vention in  Tennessee  had  satisfied  his  own  people  that  he 
had  great  power,  and  hence  he  was  unanimously  chosen  by 
the  State  at  large  to  represent  the  State  in  the  Congress. 
What  I  have  copied  was  neither  intended  to  embellish  or 
detract  from  what  General  Jackson  said  and  did,  but  I 
invite  thoughtful  men  to  look  at  the  record  —  seeing  what 
he  meant  to  do,  with  what  clearness  and  in  how  few  words 
he  prepared  his  papers,  made  his  speeches,  and  accomplished 
the  purpose  for  which  he  went.  There  is  nothing  showy 
about  what  he  did,  but  he  did  it  in  a  manner,  and  said  what 
he  had  to  say  with  a  perspicuity  that  may  be  a  lesson  even 
to  members  of  Congress  of  this  day.  His  name  never 
appears  in  the  "yeas  and  nays  in  the  Senate."  No  record 
is  made  by  Mr.  Benton,  in  the  abridgment  of  any  proceeding 
in  the  Senate  for  four  months  after  the  opening,  indicating 
that  it  was  a  slow-going  concern.  Jackson  was  in  the 
House  when  the  vote  for  President  was  counted  on  Febru- 
ary 8,  1797 — Adams,  71;  Jefferson,  68;  Pinckney,  59; 
Burr,  30;  hence,  when  Jackson  came  back  to  the  Senate, 
Adams  being  President,  Mr.  Jefferson  was  Vice  President. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  67 

In  General  Jackson's  several  races  for  the  presidency, 
there  was  much  said  about,  and  much  acrimonious  discus- 
sion over,  a  statement  of  Mr.  Webster,  as  coming  from 
Thomas  Jefferson,  to  the  following  effect : 

"I  feel  much  alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  seeing  General 
Jackson  President ;  he  is  one  of  the  most  unfit  men  I  know 
of  for  such  a  place.  He  has  very  little  respect  for  law  or 
Constitution.  He  is  an  able  military  man.  His  passions 
are  terrible.  When  I  was  President  of  the  Senate  he  was 
Senator,  and  he  could  never  speak  on  account  of  the  rash- 
ness of  his  feelings.  I  have  seen  him  attempt  it  repeatedly, 
and  as  often  choke  with  rage.  His  passions  are  no  doubt 
cooler  now ;  he  has  been  much  tried  since  I  knew  him,  but 
he  is  a  dangerous  man." 

This  is  Mr.  Webster's  report  of  a  conversation,  in  1824, 
two  years  before  Mr.  Jefferson's  death. 

Nothing  gave  the  politicians  more  trouble  in  1828  and  in 
1832,  when  Jackson  was  a  candidate.  The  Jackson  folks 
attacked  Webster  for  enlarging,  and  the  opposition  made 
the  most  of  Jefferson  as  a  witness  giving  evidence  against  a 
leader  of  his  own  party. 

Mr.  Randall,  in  his  "Life  of  Jefferson,"  publishes  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Jefferson's  grandson,  who  had  a  better  opportu- 
nity of  knowing  the  facts  than  any  other  person,  in  which 
he  says : 

"You  ask  me  if  Mr.  Webster  has  not  too  strongly  colored 
the  Jackson  portrait.  I  cannot  pretend  to  know  what  my 
grandfather  said  to  Mr.  Webster,  nor  can  I  believe  Mr. 
Webster  capable  of  a  misstatement.  Still,  I  think  the  copy 
of  the  portrait  incorrect  —  as  throwing  out  all  the  lights 
and  giving  only  the  shadows.  I  have  heard  my  grand- 
father speak  with  great  admiration  of  General  Jackson's 
military  talent.  If  he  called  him  a  'dangerous  man  —  unfit 
for  the  place'  to  which  the  nation  eventually  called  him,  I 
think  it  must  have  been  entirely  with  reference  to  his  general 
idea  that  a  military  chieftain  was  no  proper  head  for  a 


68  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

peaceful  republic,  as  ours  was  in  those  days.  I  do  not  my- 
self remember  to  have  heard  him  say  anything  about  General 
Jackson  in  connection  with  the  subject,  except  that  he  had 
thought  his  nomination  a  bad  precedent  for  the  future,  and 
that  a  successful  soldier  was  not  the  sort  of  a  candidate  for 
the  presidential  chair.  He  did  not  like  to  see  the  people 
run  away  with  the  ideas  of  military  glory." 

General  Jackson,  through  a  whole  lifetime,  was  a  surprise, 
and  the  surprises  occurred  at  every  turn  of  his  life.  Coming 
into  the  State,  knowing  nobody,  having  no  money,  no 
friends  to  boost  him,  with  defective  education,  he  at  once 
took  the  lead  as  lawyer ;  then  merchant  of  unbounded  credit ; 
then  United  States  District  Attorney,  who  discharged  his 
duty  with  fidelity  and  courage ;  then  a  Constitution  maker, 
organizing  a  State  that  he  named  and  made  immortal ;  then 
a  member  of  the  Lower  House  of  Congress  —  but  when  the 
work  was  finished  which  he  went  to  do,  he  quit  and  went 
home ;  then  twice  in  the  Senate  —  once  sworn  in  and 
resigned,  but  afterwards  returned  by  the  appointment  of  the 
Governor ;  then  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  six  years  — 
never  wrote  a  line  in  the  way  of  an  opinion,  and  resigned ; 
and  also  all  the  time  he  was  judge  he  was  major  general  of 
the  militia,  beating  the  most  popular  man  the  State  ever  had 
— John  Sevier ;  holding  all  these  offices  before  he  was  thirty- 
three  years  old,  except  the  last  term  in  the  Senate. 

This  wonderful  career  seems  to  have  been  a  training  for 
the  great  work  before  him.  As  major  general  of  the  militia, 
as  attorney  general,  as  judge,  as  a  commonwealth  builder, 
as  member  of  the  House  and  Senate,  as  merchant,  he  came 
to  know  men  as  no  other  man  in  the  country  did.  When 
the  time  came  for  war,  he  knew  the  material  he  had,  out  of 
which  his  army  was  made. 

One  of  Napoleon's  greatest  powers  —  his  knowledge  of 
men  —  is  shown  by  his  capacity  to  take  his  great  marshals 
from  the  ranks.  Jackson  did  more ;  he  took  his  great  gen- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  69 

erals  from  the  citizens  —  men  who  had  never  carried  a  gun 
or  worn  a  sword.  Coffee  and  Carroll  were  his  standbys  in 
every  emergency;  they  were  both  taken  from  the  ordinary 
avocations  of  life,  and  their  swords  handed  them  by  Jackson. 

Did  he  know  his  men  ?  Let  their  records  speak  as  I  shall 
unfold  their  lives.  They  were  as  true  and  steady  to  the 
great  leader  as  the  satellites  are  that  move  about  the  great 
planet.  These  two  men,  General  William  Carroll  and 
General  John  Coffee,  in  more  ways  than  one  help  to  make 
up  and  fill  in  the  true  life  of  General  Jackson ;  indeed,  Gen- 
eral Jackson's  life  would  be  wholly  incomplete  without  them. 
They  were  selected  by  Jackson  at  the  very  outset  of  his 
military  career  —  not  as  Napoleon  selected  his  marshals, 
from  the  ranks,  because  he  had  no  ranks ;  he  was  only  form- 
ing an  army.  A  mere  outline  of  the  service  of  Carroll  and 
Coffee  cannot  be  given  here;  it  will  be  shown  in  detail 
through  the  work.  It  was  General  Carroll  and  General 
Coffee  who,  in  every  crisis — when  other  friends  failed,  when 
trusted  military  leaders  doubted,  when  risks  were  to  be 
taken,  when  daring  deeds  were  to  be  performed,  when  men 
thirsting  for  his  blood  assailed  him  —  stood  by  him  and 
said,  "Here  we  are." 

The  careful  reader  of  General  Jackson's  campaigns,  when 
he  gets  through,  will  find  the  ejaculatory  inquiry,  speaking 
to  himself  and  asking,  How  could  Jackson  have  done  with- 
out Carroll  and  Coffee? 

One  of  the  many  writers  soon  after  Jackson's  military 
career  closed,  Mr.  Waldo,  in  1818,  wrote  "Memoirs  of 
Jackson,"  and  in  describing  the  trying  and  critical  period 
in  his  life,  says  of  Coffee : 

"It  would  be  a  task  highly  grateful  to  the  author,  would 
prescribed  limits  of  this  work  permit,  to  give  a  brief  sketch 
of  this  patriotic  and  accomplished  officer.  It  is  enough  to 
say  that  he  carried  his  active  military  life  with  Andrew 
Jackson,  and  that  in  the  most  disastrous  period  of  the  Creek 


70  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

war,  when  by  jealousy  of  some,  the  intrigue  of  others,  the 
General  was  left  almost  alone  in  a  wilderness  of  blood- 
seeking  barbarians,  Coffee  remained  faithful  among  the 
faithless  till  the  first  conquering  stroke  was  given.  He 
followed  the  no  less  desperate  fortunes  of  General  Jackson 
to  New  Orleans,  when  he,  with  his  general  and  his  gallant 
army,  acquired  laurels  which  will  never  fade  until  men 
cease  to  appreciate  exalted  patriotism." 

Whoever  shall  go  along  with  me  through  the  coming 
history  of  this  great  soldier  and  see  what  General  Coffee, 
his  cavalry  commander,  was  to  him,  will  not  be  surprised 
to  know  that  one  day  when  the  great  warrior  had  come  to 
be  President  of  -the  United  States  and  in  the  White  House, 
he  sat  down  to  his  table,  pulled  his  hat  over  his  eyes,  and 
wrote : 

"Sacred   to   the   Memory  of 

GENERAL  JOHN  COFFEE, 

Who    departed    this    Life 

7th  day  of  July,  1833, 

Aged  6 1  Years. 

"As  a  husband,  parent,  and  friend,  he  was  affectionate, 
tender,  and  sincere.  He  was  a  brave,  prompt,  and  skillful 
general;  a  distinguished  and  sagacious  patriot;  an  unpre- 
tending, just,  and  honest  man.  To  complete  his  character, 
religion  mingled  with  these  virtues  her  serene  and  gentle 
influence,  and  gave  him  that  solid  distinction  among  men 
which  detraction  cannot  sully,  nor  the  grave  conceal. 
Death  could  do  no  more  than  to  remove  so  excellent  a  being 
from  the  theater  he  so  much  adorned  in  this  world,  to  the 
bosom  of  God  who  created  him,  and  who  alone  has  the 
power  to  reward  the  immortal  spirit  with  exhaustless  bliss." 

This  strong,  beautiful  epitaph,  every  word  of  which  is 
typical  of  the  great  spirit  whose  love  of  a  friend  outlived 
the  grave,  is  on  the  tombstone  of  General  Coffee  in  the 
family  graveyard  near  Florence,  Alabama. 

Alabama  and  Tennessee  ought  to  erect  a  monument  to 
him.  With  Tennessee  troops,  by  a  dash  that  neither  Murat 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  71 

nor  Forrest  ever  excelled,  when  Alabama  was  a  territory,  he 
crossed  the  river,  met  the  Indians  in  the  wilderness,  and 
saved  the  women  and  children  on  the  frontiers  of  the  two 
States  from  a  most  horrible  massacre. 

The  Indians  had  just  massacred  400  people,  mostly 
women  and  children,  at  Fort  Mimms ;  and  under  the  teach- 
ings of  Tecumseh  to  regain  their  country  by  killing  all  as 
they  came  to  them,  and  to  die  themselves  rather  than  sur- 
render, were  moving  on  the  settlements,  when  Coffee,  in 
advance  of  the  infantry,  met  the  first  advance  at  the  Ten 
Islands  on  the  Coosa  River,  and  engaged  them.  Every 
man  of  them  stood  his  ground ;  not  one  of  them  asked  for 
quarter,  and  it  is  the  only  battle  in  American  history,  or 
perhaps  in  any  pitched  battle,  where  every  man  on  one  side 
died  fighting.  Coffee's  motto  was :  "If  every  woman  and 
child  must  die,  then  it  is  a  war  to  the  death." 

Mrs.  Royal,  in  letters  from  Alabama  (written  from 
Hunts ville,  Alabama,  in  1818),  gives  perhaps  the  best 
description  of  his  personal  appearance  which  we  have : 

"Last  evening  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  renowned 
soldier  and  companion  of  General  Jackson.  This  hero,  of 
whom  you  have  heard  so  much,  is  upward  of  six  feet  in 
height,  and  proportionately  made.  Nor  did  I  ever  see  so 
fine  a  figure.  He  is  thirty-five  or  thirty-six  years  of  age. 
His  face  is  round  and  full,  and  features  handsome.  His 
complexion  is  ruddy,  though  sunburned;  his  hair  and  eyes 
black,  and  a  soft  serenity  suffuses  his  countenance.  His 
hair  is  carelessly  thrown  one  side  in  front,  and  displays  one 
of  the  finest  brows.  His  countenance  has  much  animation 
while  speaking,  and  eyes  sparkle,  but  the  moment  he  ceases 
to  speak  it  resumes  its  wonted  placidness,  which  is  a  charac- 
teristic of  Tennesseans.  In  General  Coffee  I  expected  to 
see  a  stern,  haughty,  fierce  warrior.  You  look  in  vain  for 
that  rapidity  with  which  he  marched  and  defeated  the 
Indians  at  Talleseehatchie,  nor  could  I  trace  in  his  counten- 
ance the  swiftness  of  pursuit  and  sudden  defeat  of  the 
Indians  again  at  Umuckfaw,  much  less  his  severe  conflicts 


72  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

at  the  head  of  his  men  at  New  Orleans.  He  is  as  mild  as 
the  dewdrop,  but  deep  in  his  soul  you  may  see  very  plain 
that  deliberate,  firm,  cool,  and  manly  courage  which  have 
crowned  him  with  glory.  He  must  be  a  host  when  he  is 
aroused.  All  these  Tennesseans  are  mild  and  gentle,  except 
when  they  are  excited,  which  it  is  hard  to  do ;  but  when  they 
are  once  raised,  it  is  victory  or  death." 

An  interesting  sketch  of  this  great  cavalry  officer  has  been 
furnished  me  by  his  accomplished  granddaughter,  Miss 
Eliza  Coffee,  of  Florence,  Alabama,  which  will  serve  me  a 
good  part  in  the  letters  to  come. 

General  Coffee  left  a  large  family  of  children,  one  of 
whom,  Alexander  Donelson  Coffee,  who  lives  in  the  country 
near  Florence,  Alabama,  is  one  of  the  best  farmers  and  most 
highly  respected  citizens  of  Alabama.  Mrs.  Rachel  Diaz, 
who  died  in  the  city  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  a  few  years 
ago,  was  a  daughter.  She  was  the  wife  of  our  venerable 
and  esteemed  citizen,  A.  D.  Diaz. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  thirty-three  years  of 
Jackson's  life  were  the  child-like  steps,  the  just-beginning- 
to-walk  of  a  man  who  made  bigger  strides  than  any  man 
before  him,  or  since,  has  done  on  the  continent,  the  reader 
will  not  be  surprised  when  I  say  that  it  has  taken  more  mate- 
rial, ink,  and  paper,  to  supply  the  demand  for  information 
about  him  than  for  any  other  man  in  our  history.  When 
Parton,  in  1859,  set  about  to  write  the  great  American's 
life,  simply  as  a  money-making  business,  he  procured  the 
most  extensive  book-house  in  New  York  to  get  up  a  list  of 
books,  pamphlets,  and  papers  which  had  been  printed  and 
published  for  circulation,  wholly  or  in  large  part  devoted  to 
General  Jackson,  and  the  list  has  been  preserved,  and  it  now 
lies  before  me.  There  had  been  at  that  time  396  such  pub- 
lications, a  very  large  part  of  them  devoted  in  whole  or  in 
part,  like  Parton's  and  Sumner's  works,  to  making 
unfriendly  criticisms. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  73 

A  persistent  and  wicked  effort,  by  stealthy  means,  has 
been  made  to  impress  the  students  of  biography  with  a 
sense  of  withdrawal  from  association  with  the  great  hero, 
on  account  of  vices  which  becloud  a  man  that  might  have 
been  great  in  history.  This  thinly  veiled,  but  plainly  mali- 
cious, purpose  has,  like  a  thief  in  the  night,  stolen  into  our 
schools,  both  public  and  private,  until  right  here  in  Tennes- 
see the  boys  now  growing  up  are  in  doubt  about  placing  the 
hero  of  New  Orleans. 

The  great  State  of  Tennessee  (I  had  almost  said)  had 
better  have  no  public  schools  than  have  the  rising  generation 
poisoned  against  the  heroes  who  drove  the  Indians  with 
scalping-knives  from  the  cabins  of  our  ancestors,  and  the 
British  back  across  the  waters,  with  orders  not  to  come  back 
again  with  guns. 

Book-makers  and  school  teachers,  who  have  smiling  faces 
with  malicious  intent  to  depreciate  the  name  of  Jackson  — 
either  because  he  has  immortalized  the  service,  or  because 
he  is  a  Southern  idol  —  should  be  dealt  with  like  Jackson 
dealt  with  the  Spanish  Governor  at  Pensacola,  who  made  a 
supply  depot  of  his  city  for  the  British  —  that  is,  deposed. 
To  the  men  who  have  intelligence  and  patriotism,  it  is  grat- 
ifying to  know  that  Jackson  is  one  of  the  two  or  three  men 
who  are  getting  bigger  as  time  goes  on.  His  namesakes, 
all  in  one  line  of  battle,  could  whip  any  army  that  any  one 
country  could  send  against  us.  New  Jackson  clubs  are 
constantly  being  formed,  and  it  now  looks  like  every  city  in 
the  Union  will  have  a  Jackson  club. 

"Jackson  County,"  in  Tennessee,  was  the  first  recognition 
of  the  name  "Jackson"  in  a  county  or  town  as  a  mode  of 
honoring  the  great  Tennessean.  The  name  now  occurs  on 
the  map  181  times,  more  by  far  than  any  other  name  except 
Washington,  whose  name  appears  on  the  map  198  times, 
and,  in  addition  to  the  181  Jacksons,  the  name  of  "Hickory" 
appears  40  times.  Franklin  is  honored  on  the  map  136 


74  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

times;  Jefferson,  91;  Monroe,  76;  Madison,  64,  and 
Adams,  41. 

The  life  which  I  am  writing  is  being  prepared  with  the 
feeling  that  some  one,  some  Tennessean,  should  at  least  with 
a  friendly  pen  give  those  who  want  to  know  the  truth  a 
correct  statement  of  the  man  whose  name  —  even  without 
friends,  and  in  spite  of  enemies  —  will  go  down  through  all 
the  coming  generations.  A  writer  or  biographer  in  one  of 
the  large  magazines  has  suggested  that  there  ought  to  be 
three  biographies  written  of  a  man  —  one  by  a  friend,  one 
by  an  enemy,  and  one  by  a  historian.  Jackson  has  certainly 
had  more  than  one  enemy  to  write ;  and  surely  Reid.  Eaton, 
Waldo,  and  Kendall  were  friends.  But  the  wrongs  done 
the  then  lifeless  soldier  and  statesman  by  his  post-mortem 
writers  could  not  then  be  dealt  with,  and  their  several  biog- 
raphies, while  truthful  in  facts,  were  in  a  sense  eulogies. 
The  injury  done  the  great  Tennessean  has  been  done  like 
most  cowardly  acts  are  —  after  the  maligned  had  disap- 
peared ;  in  this  case,  after  death.  Jackson  was  not  without 
his  infirmities.  These  infirmities,  mostly  of  temper,  together 
with  a  confidence  and  courage  in  his  own  convictions,  are 
so  rare  and  so  extraordinary,  that  small  men  have  thought 
them  vices.  Parton,  however,  after  magnifying  these 
traits  of  character  into  vices,  not  satisfied,  turns  and  says : 

"One  or  two  friends  by  flattery  could  lead  him  anywhere," 
and  stigmatizes  in  coarse  language  his  conduct  in  his  per- 
sonal difficulties. 

The  exalted  patriotism  of  the  man  —  his  confidence  and 
courage  in  obeying  a  conscience  which  had  not  been  touched 
by  dishonor,  and  the  utter  abandonment  of  self  when  country 
or  helplessness  was  involved,  and  the  amendment  which  he 
made  to  the  treaty  of  Ghent  —  more  enduring  than  the 
treaty  itself,  settling  for  all  time  that  neither  England  nor 
France  nor  any  other  country  could  impress  our  seamen  on 
American  ships  —  together  with  a  courage  at  the  head  of 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  75 

the  nation  which  has  no  precedent  and  no  imitators,  will 
outlive  all  the  books  that  a  Parton  or  a  Sumner  can  write. 

But  the  object  of  these  sketches  is  to  give  the  truth  to  the 
unwary  and  careless  reader,  and  to  children  in  the  schools 
whose  minds  are  being  poisoned. 


76  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  VI. 

COLONEL  BENTON  DRAWS  HIS  PICTURE  SKETCH HOW  HE 

MET  DIFFICULTIES  AND  OVERCAME  THEM THE  OFFICES 

HE  RESIGNED HOW  JACKSON  FAILED  TO  BE  APPOINTED 

BY  THE  GOVERNMENT  WHEN  HE  WAS  GREATLY  NEEDED 

HOW  HE  PROVED  HIS  WORTH JACKSON'S  PROMPTNESS 

IN   RAISING  AN   ARMY COLONEL  CARROLL. 

RESERVING  for  future  chapters  the  private  and 
family  life  of  General  Jackson,  and  of  consequence 
the  man  in  his  nature — what  he  was  to  his  neighbors 
and  his  friends  —  in  short,  what  the  great  soldier  and  Pres- 
ident was  as  a  citizen,  and  which  no  writer  on  Jackson's  life 
would  dare  pass  without  special  attention,  I  shall  now  com- 
mence on  a  series  of  chapters  including  his  military  exploits. 
If  in  long  continued  military  service,  with  many  battles  and 
great  sacrifice  of  life,  he  falls  below  Napoleon  and  Welling- 
ton, in  action  far-reaching  in  its  effect — working  out  the 
destiny  of  his  country — he  surpassed  both;  and  in  a  short 
period,  with  limited  means,  brought  results  with  less  sacrifice 
of  life,  which  surpassed  any  general  of  modern  times. 

As  a  civilian,  he  made  so  much  history  that  Mr.  Benton's 
"Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate"  is  in  a  large  measure  taken  up 
with  Andrew  Jackson  and  his  deeds.  In  the  career  of  the 
great  soldier  and  President  there  is  no  name,  no  man  whose 
life  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  is  so  interwoven  with  that 
of  Andrew  Jackson  as  that  of  Thomas  H.  Benton.  Mr. 
Benton  commenced  practicing  law  at  Columbia  and  Franklin 
when  Jackson  was  in  full  practice  at  Nashville,  and  the  pre- 
sumption is  that  they  often  met  before  their  long  public 
intercourse  commenced.  Some  years  ago  Judge  Fleming, 
of  Columbia,  wrote  a  sketch  of  Mr.  Benton,  who  had  kept 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  77 

a  ferry  and  studied  law  in  Williamson  or  Maury  County  (I 
do  not  remember  which),  and  Judge  Fleming  says  there  was 
one  entry  on  the  docket  at  Columbia  showing  that  Benton 
attended  the  court  there.  That  entry  was  in  1808,  and  was 
that  "Thomas  H.  Benton  is  fined  one  dollar  for  swearing  in 
open  court." 

Mr.  Benton  and  Mr.  Parton  entirely  disagree  in  reference 
to  Jackson's  entrance  into  military  life,  as  to  how  it  was 
brought  about.  But  Mr.  Benton  speaks  from  personal 
knowledge,  and  his  statement  should  be  accepted. 

In  1855,  on  the  presentation  of  General  Jackson's  sword 
to  Congress,  Mr.  Benton  spoke  at  length,  and,  among  other 
things,  said : 

"He  had  difficulties  to  surmount,  and  surmounted  them. 
He  conquered  savage  tribes  and  the  conquerors  of  the  con- 
querors of  Europe;  but  he  had  to  conquer  his  own  govern- 
ment first,  and  did  it,  and  that  was  for  him  the  most  difficult 
of  the  two ;  for,  while  his  military  victories  were  the  result 
of  a  genius  for  war  and  brave  troops  to  execute  his  plans, 
enabling  him  to  command  success,  his  civil  victory  over  his 
own  government  was  the  result  of  chance  and  accidents,  and 
the  contrivances  of  others,  in  which  he  could  have  but  little 
hand  and  no  control.  I  proceed  to  give  some  views  of  the 
inside  and  preliminary  history,  and  have  some  qualifications 
for  the  task,  having  taken  some  part,  though  not  great,  in  all 
that  I  relate. 

"Retired  from  the  United  States  Senate,  of  which  he  had 
been  a  member,  and  from  the  supreme  judicial  bench  of  his 
State,  on  which  he  sat  as  judge,  this  future  warrior  and 
President  —  and  alike  illustrious  in  both  characters  —  was 
living  upon  his  farm,  on  the  banks  of  the  Cumberland,  when 
the  war  of  1812  broke  out.  He  was  major  general  in  the 
Tennessee  militia,  the  only  place  he  would  continue  to  hold, 
and  to  which  he  had  been  elected  by  the  contingency  of  one 
vote  —  so  close  was  the  chance  for  a  miss  in  this  first  step. 
His  friends  believed  that  he  had  military  genius,  and  pro- 
posed him  for  the  brigadier's  appointment,  which  was 
allotted  to  the  West.  That  appointment  was  given  to 


78  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

another,  and  Jackson  remained  unnoticed  on  his  farm. 
Soon  another  appointment  of  general  was  allotted  to  the 
West.  Jackson  was  proposed  again,  and  again  was  left  to 
attend  his  farm.  Then  a  batch  of  generals,  as  they  were 
called,  was  authorized  by  law  —  six  at  a  time  —  and  from 
all  parts  of  the  Union;  and  then  his  friends  believed  that 
surely  his  time  had  come.  Not  so  in  fact.  The  six  appoint- 
ments went  elsewhere,  and  the  hero  patriot,  who  was  born 
to  lead  armies  to  victory,  was  still  left  to  the  care  of  his 
friends,  while  incompetent  men  were  leading  our  troops  to 
defeat,  to  captivity,  to  slaughter;  for  that  is  the  way  the 
war  opened.  The  door  to  military  service  seemed  to  be 
closed  and  barred  against  him;  and  was  so,  so  far  as  the 
Government  was  concerned. 

"It  may  be  wondered  why  this  repugnance  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  Jackson,  who,  though  not  yet  greatly  distinguished, 
was  still  a  man  of  mark,  had  been  a  Senator  and  a  Supreme 
Judge,  and  was  still  a  major  general,  and  a  man  of  tried  and 
heroic  courage.  I  can  tell  the  reason.  He  had  a  great 
many  enemies,  for  he  was  a  man  of  decided  temper,  had  a 
great  many  contests,  no  compromises,  always  went  for  a 
clean  victory  or  a  clean  defeat;  though  placable  after  the 
contest  was  over.  That  was  one  reason,  but  not  the  main 
one.  The  Administration  had  a  prejudice  against  him  on 
account  of  Colonel  Burr,  with  whom  he  had  been  associated 
in  the  American  Senate  and  to  whom  he  gave  a  hospitable 
reception  in  his  house  at  the  time  of  his  western  expedition, 
relying  upon  his  assurance  that  his  designs  were  against  the 
Spanish  dominion  in  Mexico,  and  not  against  the  integrity 
of  this  Union.  These  were  some  of  the  causes  —  not  all  — 
of  Jackson's  rejection  from  Federal  military  employment. 

"I  was  young  then,  and  one  of  his  aides,  and  believed  in 
his  military  talents  and  patriotism ;  greatly  attached  to  him, 
and  was  grieved  and  vexed  to  see  him  passed  by  when  so 
much  incompetence  was  preferred.  Besides,  I  was  to  go 
with  him,  and  his  appointment  would  be  partly  my  own.  I 
was  vexed,  as  were  all  of  his  friends,  but  I  did  not  despair, 
as  most  of  them  did.  I  turned  from  the  Government  to 
ourselves,  to  our  own  resources,  and  looked  for  the  chapter 
of  accidents  to  turn  up  a  chance  for  incidental  employment, 
confident  that  he  could  do  the  rest  for  himself  if  he  could 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  79 

only  get  a  start.  I  was  in  this  mood  in  my  office,  a  young 
lawyer,  with  more  books  than  briefs,  when  the  tardy  mail 
of  that  time,  'one  raw  and  gusty  day,'  in  February,  1812, 
brought  an  Act  of  Congress  authorizing  the  President  to 
accept  organized  bodies  of  volunteers,  to  the  extent  of  fifty 
thousand,  to  serve  for  one  year,  and  to  be  called  into  service 
when  some  emergency  should  require  it." 

Mr.  Benton  then  shows  how  he,  on  a  cold  day,  went  out 
to  see  General  Jackson,  and  laid  the  plan  before  him;  that 
he  was  struck  with  it,  and  adopted  it.  Then  he  says : 

"While  this  was  going  on  an  order  arrived  from  the  War 
Department  to  the  Governor  (Willie  Blount)  to  dispatch 
fifteen  hundred  militia  to  the  Lower  Mississippi,  the  object 
to  meet  the  British,  then  expected  to  make  an  attempt  on 
New  Orleans.  The  Governor  was  a  friend  to  Jackson  and 
his  country.  He  agreed  to  accept  his  three  thousand  volun- 
teers instead  of  the  fifteen  hundred  drafted  militia.  He 
issued  an  address  to  his  division.  I  galloped  to  the  muster- 
ground  and  harangued  the  young  men.  The  success  was 
ample.  Three  regiments  were  completed — Coffee,  William 
Hall,  Benton,  the  colonels." 

From  the  beginning  of  General  Jackson's  military  career 
to  the  end  his  promptness  in  action  is  little  less  than  mar- 
velous. The  war  was  declared  on  the  I2th  of  June,  1812; 
the  news  is  supposed  to  have  reached  Nashville  on  the  2Oth 
of  the  same  month.  On  the  25th  of  June,  General  Jackson 
offered  to  the  Secretary  of  War  his  service  and  2,500  men. 
The  Secretary  of  War  replied  on  the  nth  of  July,  and  said 
the  President  received  the  tender  of  General  Jackson's  serv- 
ices, with  2,500  men,  with  peculiar  satisfaction,  and  further 
said  the  President  cannot  withhold  an  expression  of  his 
admiration  of  the  zeal  and  ardor  by  which  they  are  ani- 
mated. But  it  was  the  first  of  November  before  General 
Jackson  was  ordered  into  service.  Hull's  great  failure  on 
the  Canadian  line  caused  the  Government  to  apprehend  the 


80  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

landing  of  troops  at  New  Orleans,  where  General  Wilkinson 
was  in  command  without  an  army,  and  Jackson  was  ordered 
to  go  down  the  river  and  reinforce  General  Wilkinson. 

On  the  1 4th  of  November,  General  Jackson  issued  the 
following  address  to  the  soldiers,  the  volunteers  : 

"In  publishing  the  letters  of  General  Blount,  the  major 
general  makes  known  to  the  valiant  volunteers  who  have 
tendered  their  services  everything  which  is  necessary  for 
them  at  this  time  to  know.  In  requesting  the  officers  of 
the  respective  companies  to  meet  in  Nashville  on  the  2ist 
instant,  the  Governor  expects  to  have  the  benefit  of  their 
advice  in  recommending  the  field  officers,  who  are  to  be 
selected  from  among  the  officers  who  have  already  volun- 
teered. Also  to  fix  upon  the  time  when  the  expedition 
shall  move,  to  deliver  the  definite  instructions,  and  to  com- 
mission the  officers  in  the  name  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  Companies  which  do  not  contain  sixty-six, 
rank  and  file,  are  required  to  complete  their  complement  to 
that  number.  A  second  lieutenant  should  be  added  where 
the  company  contains  but  one. 

"The  major  general  has  now  arrived  at  a  crisis  when  he 
can  address  the  volunteers  with  the  feelings  of  a  soldier. 
The  State  to  which  he  belongs  is  now  to  act  a  part  in  the 
honorable  contest  of  securing  the  rights  and  liberties  of  a 
great  and  rising  republic.  In  placing  before  the  volunteers 
the  illustrious  actions  of  their  fathers  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution,  he  presumes  to  hope  that  they  will  not  prove 
themselves  a  degenerate  race,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  said  that 
they  are  unworthy  of  the  blessing  which  the  blood  of  so 
many  thousand  heroes  has  purchased  for  them.  The  theater 
on  which  they  are  required  to  act  is  interesting  to  them  in 
every  point  of  view.  Every  man  of  the  Western  country 
turns  his  eyes  intuitively  upon  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
He  there  beholds  the  only  outlet  by  which  his  produce  can 
reach  the  markets  of  foreign  nations  or  the  Atlantic  States. 
Blocked  up,  all  the  fruits  of  his  industry  rot  upon  his  hands ; 
open,  he  carries  on  a  commerce  with  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  To  the  people  of  the  Western  country  is  then  pecu- 
liarly committed,  by  nature  herself,  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 


LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  81 

At  the  approach  of  an  enemy  in  that  quarter,  the  whole 
Western  world  should  pour  forth  its  sons  to  meet  the  invader 
and  drive  him  back  into  the  sea.  Brave  volunteers,  it  is  to 
the  defense  of  this  place,  so  interesting  to  you,  that  you  are 
now  ordered  to  repair.  Let  us  show  ourselves  conscious  of 
the  honor  and  importance  of  the  charge  which  has  been  com- 
mitted to  us.  By  the  alacrity  with  which  we  obey  the 
orders  of  the  President  let  us  demonstrate  to  our  brothers  in 
all  parts  of  the  Union  that  the  people  of  Tennessee  are 
worthy  of  being  called  to  the  defense  of  the  Republic. 

"The  generals  of  brigades  attached  to  the  Second  Divis- 
ion will  communicate  these  orders  to  the  officers  command- 
ing volunteer  companies  with  all  possible  dispatch,  using 
expresses,  and  forwarding  a  statement  of  the  expense  to  the 
major  general.  ANDREW  JACKSON, 

"Major  General  Second  Division  T." 

"November  14,  1812." 

The  assembling  of  the  troops  on  the  day  named  —  the 
loth  of  December  —  is  notable  in  the  fact  that,  although  the 
weather  was  extremely  cold  —  one  of  two  or  three  occa- 
sions when  the  Cumberland  River  was  frozen  over  —  2,000 
men,  obeying  the  Governor's  call  and  Jackson's  address, 
appeared  to  be  mustered  into  service.  As  the  weather  began 
to  get  cold  the  quartermaster,  Maj.  William  B.  Lewis,  pro- 
vided a  large  supply  of  wood.  Nashville  being  a  mere 
village,  there  was  no  means  of  sheltering  the  troops,  and  to 
save  the  men  from  freezing  immense  fires  had  to  be  made 
on  the  ground  set  apart  as  a  camping  ground.  With  all 
that  could  be  done  the  suffering  was  great,  for  scarcely  any 
tents  had  been  provided.  But  the  occasion  was  one  of  a 
thousand,  afterward  occurring,  for  Jackson  to  prove  to  his 
soldiers  what  he  was.  He  did  not  leave  the  matter  of 
taking  care  of  the  soldiers  to  his  efficient  quartermaster,  but, 
with  the  thermometer  below  zero,  he  spent  the  whole  night 
with  his  men,  encouraging  them,  and  collecting  from  every 
source  possible  wood  for  fires,  even  taking  down  fences  and 
burning  the  rails  to  keep  his  men  from  freezing.  So  that 


82  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

in  one  night  his  men  found  out  what  sort  of  general  they 
were  under. 

The  occasion  furnished  General  Jackson  an  opportunity 
of  showing  what  his  enemy  biographers  call  his  infirmities. 
After  tramping  in  the  snow,  said  to  be  several  inches  deep, 
tearing  down  fences  and  helping  the  soldiers  to  build  fires, 
at  about  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  he  came  into  the  hotel 
to  hear  a  man,  who  had  slept  in  a  warm  bed,  abusing  the 
authorities  for  not  providing  for  the  soldiers  before  they 
came,  ready  to  shed  tears  over  the  hard  fate  of  the  privates. 
He  said  it  was  a  shame  that  men  should  have  been  out  all 
night  freezing,  when  the  officers  were  snugly  laid  away  in 
warm  beds. 

This  was  more  than  the  soldier  could  stand,  who  had 
not  had  time  to  examine  and  see  if  his  toes  were  frost 
bitten ;  and  a  bystander,  who  was  present  and  lived  to  be  an 
old  man,  handed  the  scene  that  ensued  down  to  posterity 
with  a  good  deal  more  detail  than  I  can  afford  to  write 
down,  but  he  said  the  hotel  smelt  of  brimstone,  and  the 
room  was  lighted  up  with  blue  blazes — and  that  fellow,  who 
was  so  sorry  for  the  poor  soldier  out  in  the  cold  was  himself 
soon  out  in  the  cold,  and  that  he  kept  going. 

The  building  of  the  boats  for  the  trip  down  the  river 
required  some  time,  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  days.  In  the 
meantime  an  incident  occurred,  related  to  me  by  General 
Moore,  of  Lincoln  County,  which  is  worth  perpetuating. 
I  think  it  was  at  this  time,  but  the  facts  I  remember  dis- 
tinctly. General  Moore  was  a  young  captain  in  Jackson's 
army.  He  had  a  company  from  Fayetteville,  in  which 
was  Davy  Crockett,  a  private,  an  awkward,  boy-like  soldier. 
General  Moore  said  his  company  became  somewhat  in- 
subordinate in  idleness,  and  he  made  known  to  his  men  that 
he  would  not  remain  captain  of  a  company  that  would  not 
obey  his  orders.  And  he  was  going  to  put  the  facts  before 
the  General  and  ask  him  what  to  do.  And  when  he  started 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  83 

to  the  General's  headquarters,  Davy  Crockett  blabbed  out 
that  he  was  going  along  and  see  what  the  old  General  said. 
So  he  and  his  private  called  on  the  General ;  he  made  known 
his  trouble,  when  the  General  said  to  him: 

"Captain,  I  have  but  little  to  say  to  you.  It  is  this: 
Don't  you  make  any  orders  on  your  men  without  maturing 
them,  and  then  you  execute  them,  no  matter  what  it  costs ; 
and  that  is  all  I  have  to  say."  But  when  they  got  back  to 
the  company  the  men  were  anxious  to  know  what  the  Gen- 
eral said,  and  Crockett  thus  spoke:  "The  old  General  told 
the  captain  to  be  sure  he  was  right,  and  then  go  ahead." 

He  said  afterwards,  during  the  campaign,  the  phrase 
was  used  on  all  occasions,  and  it  spread  through  the  army. 
The  phrase  is  now  used  among  all  English-speaking  people, 
and  perhaps  among  others.  It  has  always  been  attributed 
to  Davy  Crockett,  and  I  am  sure  from  the  circumstantial 
detail  with  which  it  was  given  to  me  by  General  Moore, 
who  was  always  much  esteemed  by  General  Jackson,  that 
these  are  the  facts  of  its  origin. 

In  this  army  was  a  young  man  who  had  but  recently 
come  to  Tennessee  from  Pennsylvania,  William  Carroll, 
who,  though  he  had  never  seen  service,  had  some  knowledge 
of  military  tactics;  and  being  the  only  man  in  the  army 
who  did,  Jackson  made  him  brigade  inspector,  and  by  hard 
work  and  close  application  under  the  direction  of  the  com- 
manding general,  who  knew  as  well  what  discipline  was  to 
an  army  as  any  man  that  ever  commanded  an  army  without 
experience  in  actual  service,  he  soon  had  an  army  ready  for 
service.  Waiting  at  Nashville,  and  the  long  delay  at 
Natchez,  and  not  a  day  lost,  Col.  Carroll  had  a  well- 
equipped  army.  As  will  be  shown,  Jackson's  appreciation 
of  this  young  Pennsylvanian  brought  upon  him  one  of  the 
most  serious  of  all  his  personal  difficulties,  but  it  only  tied 
him  closer  to  the  young  man,  who  proved  to  be  in  the  war 
more  than  even  Jackson  could  hope  for.  His  life  and  history 


84  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

are  indelibly  associated  with  Tennessee,  and  the  service  he 
rendered  Jackson  in  Indian  wars  and  at  New  Orleans  will 
go  along  with  the  great  soldier  as  long  as  men  love  to  read 
of  patriotism  and  heroic  deeds.  He  was  not  only  re- 
nowned as  a  great  soldier,  but  he  made  one  of  the  best 
Governors  the  State  ever  had,  and  held  the  office  twelve 
years. 

Before  the  infantry,  under  Col.  Benton  and  Col.  Hall — 
fourteen  hundred  men  in  all — embarked  on  the  boats,  Jack- 
son put  Col.  Coffee  in  command  of  the  cavalry — six  hun- 
dred and  seventy  men — ordering  him  to  go  through  the 
Indian  Nation  and  meet  the  river  expedition  at  Natchez. 

The  voyage  down  the  river,  under  the  General  himself, 
was  one  of  great  exposure  and  hardship.  The  winter  was 
a  severe  one.  The  boats  being  hurriedly  built,  were 
scarcely  sufficient  to  contend  with  the  ice.  Several  accidents 
occurred,  and  one  boat  was  lost,  but  at  the  end  of  thirty- 
nine  days  the  army  reached  Natchez  with  every  man  that 
had  left  Nashville,  and  all  well  and  strong.  Jackson, 
reaching  Natchez,  found  Coffee  with  his  command  all  safe, 
after  a  hard  trip  through  the  wilderness  without  roads. 

On  leaving  Nashville,  Colonel  Coffee  wrote  his  father-in- 
law,  Capt.  John  Donelson,  a  letter,  from  which  I  make  an 
extract.  This  letter  shows  how  a  great  soldier  can  be 
bound  to  the  home  he  leaves  behind  with  its  dear  ties : 


"A  sense  of  duty  and  justice  have  compelled  me  to  ad- 
dress this  line,  together  with  its  enclosure.  I  did  not  see 
the  propriety  of  such  an  act  until  very  late,  and  even  now 
it  may  seem  to  you  unnecessary.  Yet  when  I  reflect  on 
the  uncertainty  of  the  life  of  man,  and  the  time  I  am  about 
to  leave  my  native  country  for  a  more  unhealthy  climate, 
independent  of  any  dangers  I  may  be  thrown  in  by  a  state 
of  war,  I  should  be  remiss  from  my  duty  were  I  not  in  the 
most  equitable  manner  to  make  provision  for  my  family 
were  it  to  be  my  lot  not  to  return  again.  I  have  drawn  up 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  85 

an  instrument  expressive  of  my  wishes,  and  which  I  enclose 
to  you.  This,  if  it  please  the  Almighty  that  I  never  return 
to  my  beloved  wife  and  infant  daughter,  is  my  last  will 
and  testament,  which,  I  shall  rest  assured  from  your  paren- 
tal goodness,  you  will  have  executed  without  deviation  as 
far  as  practicable." 

When  Jackson  started  on  his  campaign  from  Nashville, 
he  wrote  the  Secretary  of  War  as  follows : 

"I  have  the  pleasure  to  inform  you  that  I  am  now  at 
the  head  of  2,070  volunteers,  the  choicest  of  our  citizens, 
who  go  at  the  call  of  their  country  to  execute  the  will  of 
the  Government;  who  have  no  constitutional  scruples,  and, 
if  the  Government  orders,  will  rejoice  at  the  opportunity 
of  placing  the  American  eagle  on  the  ramparts  of  Mobile, 
Pensacola,  and  Fort  St.  Augustine,  effectually  banishing 
from  the  Southern  coasts  all  British  influence." 

From  the  time  Jackson  reached  Natchez,  early  in  Jan- 
uary, to  the  last  days  of  March,  the  General  in  command, 
all  the  officers  and  private  soldiers  were  not  only  in  a  state 
of  suspense,  but  in  a  state  of  deepest  anxiety  to  know  what 
the  suspense  meant.  Not  a  word  of  explanation  came  from 
the  War  Department  or  from  General  Wilkinson  as  to  what 
caused  the  halt,  what  was  to  be  done  with  them,  or  whether 
there  had  been  a  change  in  the  war  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  letters  of  General  Coffee  to  his  family  mani- 
fested the  greatest  anxiety  as  to  what  it  all  meant.  An- 
drew Jackson  wrote  letters  to  General  Wilkinson  and  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  suggesting  that  he  be  allowed  to  go 
with  his  army  to  the  Canada  line,  where  disasters  were 
coming  thick  and  fast.  He  could  easily  increase  his  force 
from  Tennessee  to  5,000  men,  and  with  his  Tennesseans 
he  would  undertake  to  wipe  off  the  stain  occasioned  by  the 
recent  disasters.  This  state  of  things  continued  until  about 
the  last  days  of  March.  The  following  order  from  the 
Secretary  of  War  reached  General  Jackson: 


86  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  February  6,  1813. 

"Sirs:  The  causes  of  embodying  and  marching  to  New 
Orleans  the  corps  under  your  command  have  ceased  to 
exist;  you  will,  on  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  consider  it  as 
dismissed  from  public  service,  and  take  measures  to  have 
delivered  over  to  Major  General  Wilkinson  all  the  articles 
of  public  property  which  may  not  have  been  put  into  its 
possession. 

"You  will  accept  for  yourself  and  corps  the  thanks  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States. 

"I  have  the  honor,  etc., 

"J.  ARMSTRONG." 

"Major  General  Jackson" 

"I  well  remember  the  day,"  said  Col.  Benton  in  the 
speech  already  quoted,  "the  order  came.  The  first  I  knew 
of  it  was  a  message  from  the  General  to  come  to  him  at 
his  tent;  for,  though  as  colonel  of  a  regiment  I  had  ceased 
to  be  aide,  yet  my  place  had  not  been  filled,  and  I  was  sent 
for  as  much  as  ever.  He  showed  me  the  order,  and  also 
his  character  in  his  instant  determination  not  to  obey  it, 
but  to  lead  the  volunteers  home." 

I  had  it  from  the  lips  of  General  Moore,  who  was  present, 
that  General  Jackson  called  a  council  of  war  and  the  offi- 
cers assembled;  the  General  walked  in  and  said:  "I  have 
called  you  together  to  tell  you  that  I  am  not  going  to  obey 
this  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War." 

Colonel  Benton  in  the  same  speech  says : 

"We  have  all  heard  of  his  responsibilities — his  readiness 
to  assume  political  responsibilities  when  the  public  service 
required  it.  He  was  now  equally  ready  to  take  responsi- 
bility of  another  kind — moneyed  responsibility,  and  that 
beyond  the  whole  of  his  fortune.  He  had  no  military 
chest,  not  a  dollar  of  public  money,  and  three  thousand 
men  were  to  be  conducted  five  hundred  miles  through  a 
wilderness  country  and  Indian  tribes  without  a  great  outlay 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  87 

of  money.  Wagons  were  wanted,  and  many  of  them  for 
transport  of  provisions,  baggage  and  the  sick,  so  numerous 
among  the  new  troops.  He  had  no  money  to  hire  teams; 
he  impressed;  and  at  the  end  of  the  service  gave  drafts 
upon  the  Quartermaster  General  of  the  Southern  Depart- 
ment for  the  amount. 

"The  wagons  were  ten  dollars  a  day,  coming  and  going. 
They  were  numerous.  It  was  a  service  of  two  months; 
the  amount  incurred  was  great;  he  incurred  it,  and,  as  will 
be  seen,  at  imminent  risk  of  his  own  ruin.  This  assump- 
tion on  the  General's  part  met  the  first  great  difficulty,  but 
there  were  lesser  difficulties,  still  serious,  to  be  surmounted. 
The  troops  received  no  pay;  clothing  and  shoes  were  worn 
out;  men  were  in  no  condition  for  a  march  so  long  and  so 
exposed.  The  officers  had  received  no  pay,  did  not  expect 
to  need  money,  had  made  no  provision  for  the  unexpected 
contingency  of  large  demands  upon  their  own  pockets  to 
enable  them  to  do  justice  to  their  own  men.  But  there 
was  a  patriotism  without  the  camp  as  well  as  within." 

General  Jackson  wrote  caustic  letters  to  the  Secretary 
of  War,  which,  however,  Col.  Benton  says,  he  (Benton) 
softened  in  some  sense.  But  General  Jackson  always  be- 
lieved he  saw  the  sly  hand  of  Wilkinson  in  the  whole  thing, 
and  produced  a  letter  from  Wilkinson,  saying:  "You  still 
have  it  in  your  power  to  render  an  effective  service  by 
urging  your  men  to  enlist  in  the  regular  army,"  and  he 
asked  Jackson  to  do  this  in  a  general  order. 

Jackson  gave  Wilkinson  to  understand  that  he  was  under 
a  pledge  to  the  mothers  and  wives  of  his  soldiers  to  look 
after  them  with  a  fatherly  care  until  he  brought  them  back 
safely,  if  alive,  and  that  he  was  going  to  march  them  back 
home.  He  drove  Wilkinson's  recruiting  officers  out  of 
the  camp,  telling  them  if  they  appeared  in  camp  again  they 
would  be  drummed  out. 

General  Jackson  said :  "As  between  an  open  defiance  of 
the  orders  of  my  superior,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  my 
duty  to  the  private  soldier  who  put  himself  under  me,  I 


88  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

shall  risk  all  the  consequences  of  being  dishonored  and 
losing  my  entire  estate  and  much  more.  I  shall  take  care 
of  my  men  and  carry  them  back  home." 

He  had  the  credit  to  raise  the  money  to  do  it;  the 
Government  was  sullen  and  refused  to  reimburse  him  for 
many  months.  He  was  without  transportation,  which, 
out  of  his  own  pocket,  he  improvised.  He  had  150 
sick  men,  a  large  part  of  them  extremely  ill.  He  had  three 
horses  which  he  gave  to  the  sick,  and  himself  walked  with 
his  men.  A  soldier  said  in  moving  along,  "The  old  man 
is  tough."  "Yes,"  said  another,  "as  tough  as  hickory." 
"Yes,"  said  a  third,  "an  old  hickory  at  that,"  and  this  is 
the  way  he  got  the  name  of  "Old  Hickory." 

He  made  the  march  in  good  time,  and  when  he  reached 
Nashville  the  army  was  received  with  great  ceremony. 
The  soldiers  went  away  to  their  several  homes,  and  from 
one  end  of  the  State  to  the  other,  in  every  cabin,  around 
every  fireside,  Jackson  was  simply  an  idol. 

This  is  an  exhibition  of  courage  in  duty  coupled  with  a 
money  responsibility ;  in  fact,  a  risk  that  men  in  public  life 
rarely  take.  General  Jackson  manifestly  believed  the  pur- 
pose was — and  he  had  a  strong  suspicion  that  General 
Wilkinson  had  manipulated  the  scheme  for  delay,  making 
conditions  which  would  coerce  the  enlistment  in  the  army 
under  him.  The  subsequent  facts  pretty  conclusively  show 
that  Jackson  was  right.  Keeping  his  promise  and  standing 
firmly  by  the  private  soldiers,  in  disobedience  of  the  order 
from  the  Secretary  of  War,  was  what  made  it  possible  for 
him  afterwards  to  raise  armies  when  needed. 

The  fight  with  Col.  Thomas  H.  and  Jesse  Benton,  about 
which  so  much  has  been  said,  is  intimately  connected  with 
General  Jackson's  disobeying  orders  of  the  Secretary  of 
War.  It  has  been  generally  said  and  believed  that  General 
Jackson  sent  Col.  Benton  on  horseback  to  Washington,  to 
reconcile  the  Government  to  his  conduct.  But  Col.  Benton 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  89 

himself  distinctly  states  that  he  went  to  Washington  on  his 
own  business,  but  undertook  and  did  finally  come  to  an 
understanding  with  the  Government,  and  got  a  settlement 
that  relieved  General  Jackson  of  the  embarrassment  occa- 
sioned by  his  disobedience.  The  public  mind  has  rested  on 
the  belief  that  Jackson,  being  in  great  trouble  with  the  Gov- 
ernment, sent  Benton  on  to  restore  friendly  relations  with 
the  Government,  and  that  he  did  it,  and  while  he  was  gone 
Jackson  became  the  second  of  Carroll  in  a  duel  between 
Jesse  Benton,  Colonel  Benton's  brother,  and  Colonel  Car- 
roll, which  on  its  face  was  a  bad  showing  for  Jackson.  The 
facts  are  that  Carroll  had  become  a  great  favorite  with  Jack- 
son, creating  much  jealousy  with  a  set  of  men  who  did  not 
propose  to  divide  up  the  capital  they  had  in  Jackson's  favors, 
and  in  those  fighting  times  they  got  two  fellows,  one  right 
after  the  other,  to  challenge  Carroll,  both  of  whom  he  re- 
fused to  fight  because  they  were  not  gentlemen.  But 
finally  they  worked  on  Jesse  Benton  until  he  challenged 
Carroll.  This  Carroll  accepted,  but  such  was  the  vindic- 
tiveness  and  jealousy  that  it  was  difficult  for  Carroll  to  get 
a  second.  When  this  became  manifest  he  went  to  the 
Hermitage,  waking  Jackson  up  in  the  night,  and  asked  him 
to  be  his  second.  To  this  General  Jackson  objected,  giving 
the  reasons,  among  others  the  difference  in  their  ages,  and 
his  relations  with  Col.  Benton,  but  finally  said  he  would  go 
with  him  to  the  city  and  see  if  he  could  not  settle  it.  Going 
to  the  city  promptly  he  saw  Jesse  Benton  and  urged  him  to 
withdraw  the  challenge,  explaining  to  Benton,  as  he  un- 
derstood it,  that  there  was  really  nothing  between  them  to 
fight  about.  Jackson  left  understanding  the  challenge 
would  be  withdrawn,  but  influences  were  brought  to  bear 
on  Benton  that  made  him  recede  from  his  agreement  with 
Jackson  and  press  the  fight. 

Then  again  Carroll  called  on  Jackson,  who  again  pro- 
tested, but  he  was  now  fully  satisfied  that  there  was  a  com- 


90  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

mon  purpose  to  get  clear  of  Carroll ;  and  when  Carroll  told 
him  that  his  enemies  were  saying  that  they  would  run  him 
out  of  the  country,  Jackson  said,  "Well,  I  can  tell  you  one 
thing,  they  will  not  run  you  out  of  the  country  while  An- 
drew Jackson  stays  in  it."  So  Jackson  became  his  second 
and  the  duel  was  fought. 

Col.  Thomas  H.  Benton  was  still  at  Washington,  and  re- 
ceived letters  from  his  brother  and  friends  strongly  con- 
demning Jackson,  and  putting  the  blame  on  him  for  the 
duel.  Of  course  Col.  Benton  was  much  exasperated,  and 
on  all  occasions  denounced  Jackson  in  most  violent  lan- 
guage, threatening  to  chastise  him.  This  he  continued  on 
the  road  home,  all  of  which  reached  Jackson's  ears. 

Benton  was  shot  in  the  hip  and  Carroll  ,was  hit,  a  ball 
striking  one  of  his  thumbs. 

Mr.  Parton  came  to  Nashville  in  1859,  forty-six  years 
after  the  fight  between  Jackson  and  the  Bentons,  which 
took  place  on  the  north  side  of  the  Square,  at  the  lower 
end  of  the  City  Hotel,  and  got  the  facts  about  the  fight 
from  the  old  men  who  witnessed  it.  His  account  of  the 
difficulty  covers  many  pages  in  his  book.  I  give  the  fol- 
lowing extract: 

"Benton  wrote  to  Jackson,  denouncing  his  conduct  in 
offensive  terms.  Jackson  replied,  in  effect,  that  before  ad- 
dressing him  in  that  manner  Col.  Benton  should  have  in- 
quired of  him  what  his  conduct  really  had  been,  and  not 
listened  to  the  tales  of  designing  and  interested  parties. 
Benton  wrote  still  more  angrily ;  he  said  that  General  Jack- 
son had  conducted  the  duel  in  a  'savage,  unequal,  unfair 
and  base  manner.'  On  his  way  home  through  Tennessee, 
especially  at  Knoxville,  he  inveighed  bitterly  and  loudly, 
in  public  places,  against  General  Jackson.  Jackson  had 
liked  Thomas  Benton,  and  remembered  with  gratitude  his 
parents,  particularly  his  mother,  who  had  been  gracious 
and  good  to  him  when  he  was  a  'raw  lad'  in  North  Caro- 
lina. Jackson  was,  therefore,  sincerely  unwilling  to  break 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  91 

with  him  and  manifested  a  degree  of  forbearance,  which 
it  is  a  pity  he  could  not  have  maintained  to  the  end. 

"He  took  fire  at  last,  threw  old  friendship  to  the  winds, 
and  swore  by  the  eternal  that  he  would  horsewhip  Tom 
Benton  the  first  time  he  met  him. 

"There  were  two  taverns  on  the  Public  Square  of  Nash- 
ville, both  situated  near  the  same  angle,  their  front  doors 
being  not  more  than  a  hundred  yards  apart.  One  was  the 
old  Nashville  Inn,  at  which  General  Jackson  was  accus- 
tomed to  put  up  for  more  than  forty  years.  There,  too, 
the  Bentons,  Col.  Coffee,  and  all  of  the  General's  particular 
friends  were  wont  to  take  lodgings  whenever  they  visited 
the  town,  and  to  hold  pleasant  converse  over  a  glass  of 
wine.  The  other  tavern  was  the  City  Hotel.  On  reaching 
Nashville,  Col.  Benton  and  his  brother  Jesse  did  not  go  to 
their  accustomed  inn,  but  stopped  at  the  City  Hotel  to 
avoid  General  Jackson,  unless  he  chose  to  go  out  of  his 
way  to  seek  them.  This  was  on  the  3d  of  September. 
In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  it  came  to  pass  that  General 
Jackson  and  Col.  Coffee  rode  into  town,  and  put  up  their 
horses,  as  usual,  at  the  Nashville  Inn.  Capt.  Carroll  called 
in  the  course  of  the  evening,  and  told  the  General  that  an 
affair  of  the  most  delicate  and  tender  nature  compelled  him 
to  leave  Nashville  at  dawn  of  day. 

"  'Go,  by  all  means,'  said  the  General.  'I  want  no  man 
to  fight  my  battles.' 

"The  next  morning,  about  9,  Col.  Coffee  proposed  to 
General  Jackson  that  they  should  stroll  over  to  the  post- 
office.  They  continued  to  walk  to  the  postoffice,  got  their 
letters,  and  set  out  on  their  return.  This  time,  however, 
they  did  not  take  the  short  way  across  the  square,  but  kept 
down  the  sidewalk  which  led  past  the  front  door  at  which 
Col.  Benton  was  posted.  As  they  drew  near  they  observed 
that  Jesse  Benton  was  standing  before  the  hotel,  near  his 
brother.  On  coming  up  to  where  Col.  Benton  stood,  Gen- 
eral Jackson  suddenly  turned  toward  him,  with  his 
whip  in  his  hand,  and,  stepping  up  to  him,  said : 

"  'Now,  you  d — d  rascal,  I  am  going  to  punish  you. 
Defend  yourself.' 

"Benton  put  his  hand  into  his  breast  pocket  and  seemed 
to  be  fumbling  for  his  pistol.  As  quick  as  lightning,  Jack- 


92  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

son  drew  a  pistol  from  a  pocket  behind  him,  and  presented 
it  full  at  his  antagonist,  who  recoiled  a  pace  or  two.  Jack- 
son advanced  upon  him.  Benton  continued  to  step  slowly 
backward.  Jackson  closed  upon  him  with  a  pistol  at  his 
heart,  until  they  had  reached  the  back  door  of  the  hotel, 
and  were  in  the  act  of  turning  down  the  back  piazza.  At 
that  moment,  just  as  Jackson  was  beginning  to  turn,  Jesse 
Benton  entered  the  passage  behind  the  belligerents,  and, 
seeing  his  brother's  danger,  raised  his  pistol  and  fired  at 
Jackson.  The  pistol  was  loaded  with  two  balls  and  a  large 
slug.  The  slug  took  effect  in  Jacksons'  left  shoulder,  shat- 
tering it  horribly.  One  of  the  balls  struck  the  thick  part 
of  his  left  arm  and  buried  itself  near  the  bone.  The  other 
ball  splintered  the  board  partition  at  his  side.  The  shock 
of  the  wounds  was  such  that  Jackson  fell  across  the  entry 
and  remained  prostrate,  bleeding  profusely. 

"Coffee  had  remained  just  outside  meanwhile.  Hearing 
the  report  of  the  pistol,  he  sprang  into  the  entry,  and  seeing 
his  chief  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  Col.  Benton,  concluded  that 
it  was  his  ball  that  had  laid  him  low.  He  rushed  upon 
Benton,  drew  his  pistol,  fired,  and  missed.  Then  he 
'clubbed'  his  pistol,  and  was  about  to  strike,  when  Benton, 
in  stepping  backward,  came  to  some  stairs  of  which  he  was 
not  aware,  and  fell  headlong  to  the  bottom.  Coffee,  think- 
ing him  hors  de  combat,  hastened  to  the  assistance  of  his 
wounded  General. 

"The  report  of  Jesse  Benton's  pistol  brought  another 
actor  on  the  bloody  scene,  Stokely  Hays,  a  nephew  of  Mrs. 
Jackson,  and  a  devoted  friend  to  the  General.  He  was 
standing  near  the  Nashville  Inn  when  he  heard  the  pistol. 
He  knew  well  what  was  going  forward,  and  ran  with  all 
speed  to  the  spot.  He,  too,  saw  the  General  lying  on  the 
floor  weltering  in  his  blood.  But,  unlike  Coffee,  he  per- 
ceived who  it  was  that  had  fired  the  deadly  charge.  Hays 
was  a  man  of  giant  size  and  giant's  strength.  He  snatched 
from  his  sword-cane  its  long  and  glittering  blade,  and  made 
a  lunge  at  Jesse  with  such  frantic  force  that  it  would  have 
pinned  him  to  the  wall  had  it  taken  effect.  Luckily  the 
point  struck  a  button,  and  the  slender  weapon  was  broken 
to  pieces.  He  then  drew  a  dirk,  threw  himself  in  a  par- 
oxysm of  fury  upon  Jesse,  and  got  him  down  upon  the  floor. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  93 

Holding  him  down  with  one  hand,  he  raised  the  dirk  to 
plunge  it  into  his  breast.  The  prostrate  man  seized  the 
coat  cuff  of  the  descending  arm  and  diverted  the  blow,  so 
that  the  weapon  only  pierced  the  fleshy  part  of  his  left  arm. 
Hays  strove  madly  to  disengage  his  arm,  and  in  doing  so 
gave  poor  Jesse  several  flesh  wounds.  At  length,  with  a 
mighty  wrench,  he  tore  his  cuff  from  Jesse  Benton's  con- 
vulsive grasp,  lifted  the  dirk  high  in  the  air,  and  was  about 
to  bury  it  in  the  heart  of  his  antagonist,  when  a  bystander 
caught  the  uplifted  hand  and  prevented  the  further  shed- 
ding of  blood.  Other  bystanders  then  interfered;  the 
maddened  Hays,  the  wrathful  Coffee,  the  irate  Benton  were 
held  back  from  continuing  the  combat,  and  quiet  was  re- 
stored. 

"Faint  from  the  loss  of  blood,  Jackson  was  conveyed  to 
a  room  in  the  Nashville  Inn,  his  wound  still  bleeding  fear- 
fully. Before  the  bleeding  could  be  stopped,  two  mat- 
tresses, as  Mrs.  Jackson  used  to  say,  were  soaked  through, 
and  the  General  was  reduced  almost  to  the  last  gasp.  All 
the  doctors  in  Nashville  were  soon  in  attendance.  All  but 
one  of  them,  and  he  a  young  man,  recommended  the  ampu- 
tation of  the  shattered  arm.  Til  keep  my  arm/  said  the 
wounded  man,  and  he  kept  it. 

"The  gastly  wounds  in  the  shoulder  were  dressed,  in  the 
simple  manner  of  the  Indians  and  pioneers,  with  poultices 
of  slippery  elm  and  other  products  of  the  woods.  The 
patient  was  utterly  prostrated  with  the  loss  of  blood." 


94  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  VII. 

JACKSON'S  FRIENDS  AND  ENEMIES  REVEAL  TWO  CLASSES  — 

NEXT    HE    JACKSONIZED    THE    COUNTRY COLONEL 

BURTON'S  KNOWLEDGE  OF  JACKSON  THROUGH  LIFE  — 

THE  ONE  VOTE  THAT  DID  SO  MUCH  FOR  JACKSON 

CARTWRIGHT  AND  BLACKBURN,  THE  GREAT  PREACHERS, 
AS  FRIENDS  OF  JACKSON. 

IN  my  last  chapter  I  left  General  Jackson  on  a  couch 
soaked  with  blood,  a  bullet  in  his  arm  and  his  shoulder 
shattered,  the  result  of  a  most  desperate  fight  with 
Col.  Thomas  H.  Benton  and  his  brother,  Jesse  Benton. 

General  Jackson's  life  after  he  was  shot  in  the  Benton 
fight — commencing  nineteen  days  after  the  fight — is  the 
nearest  a  realistic  romance,  a  continuous  romance — abso- 
lutely continuous — without  the  loss  of  a  day,  that  can  be 
found  in  that  of  any  public  man.  From  that  day  to  the 
end  of  his  presidency — twenty-three  years — he  never 
touched  anything  without  Jacksonizing  it,  and  upon  the 
whole  so  Jacksonized  the  country  that,  as  soldier,  states- 
man, citizen,  he  ranked  all  men  —  Jacksonized  the  army, 
Jacksonized  the  highest  office  the  American  people  could 
confer  on  him,  and  all  with  such  a  sublime  sense  of  duty  and 
foresight  that  with  his  friends  he  was  an  idol,  and  with  his 
enemies  he  was  the  bull's  eye  for  thousands  of  book-makers, 
magazine  and  newspaper  scribblers,  whose  productions 
would  make  a  small  library. 

With  great  floods  of  defamation,  he  went  out  of  the  high 
office  strong  enough  to  name  two  of  his  successors.  Be- 
fore entereing  upon  his  wonderful  career,  dividing  the  en- 
tire country  into  two  classes — Jackson's  friends  and  Jack- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  95 

son's  enemies,  I  propose  to  devote  a  chapter  to  his  true 
character  as  gathered  from  the  highest  sources. 

Of  all  the  witnesses  whom  the  Jacksonian  period  fur- 
nished, Thomas  H.  Benton  is  the  most  reliable.  When 
quite  young  he  saw  much  of  General  Jackson  in  his  own 
home,  knew  his  domestic  life — what  he  was  to  his  wife, 
what  he  was  to  his  slaves,  what  he  was  to  his  guests,  what 
he  was  in  all  his  private  business  relations,  in  what  esteem 
he  was  held  by  his  neighbors.  He  knew  him  as  Judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court ;  he  knew  him  as  an  attorney  at  the  bar. 
He  was  involved  in  the  most  deadly  of  all  Jackson's  per- 
sonal conflicts.  He  was  under  him  as  an  officer  in  the  army, 
and  saw  him  in  a  condition  where,  of  all  his  trials,  the  test 
of  sublime  courage  reached  the  highest  point — where  for 
the  private  soldier  under  him,  who  had  no  favors  to  bestow, 
he  put  up  as  a  test  and  a  forfeit  his  commission  as  general, 
and  his  entire  estate,  all  to  be  swept  away  if  the  Government 
did  not  forgive  his  disobedience  of  orders.  Then  he  had 
watched  him  as  Governor  of  Florida  in  dealing  with  the 
Spaniards ;  and,  above  all,  he  had  been  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  serving  at  one  time  with  Jackson  in  the  Senate, 
and  then  carefully  noted  every  step  he  took  as  President 
through  eight  years,  which  was  a  conflict  with  big  men  and 
little  ones.  No  other  man  had  such  an  opportunity  to 
know  his  real  character,  and  no  other  man  who  lived 
through  Jackson's  life  of  public  service  had  the  capacity 
and  courage  to  so  truly  note  facts  of  history.  The  estimate 
of  General  Jackson's  true  character,  though  lengthy,  as 
found  in  Benton's  "Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate,"  should  be 
carefully  read  by  all  who  are  interested  in  the  truth  of 
history  of  a  man  who  had  more  friends  and  worse  ene- 
mies than  any  other  man  of  his  time,  and  almost  of  any 
other  time.  I  make  the  following  quotations  from  this 
lengthy  review  by  Mr.  Benton  of  Jackson's  real  character: 


96  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"The  first  time  I  saw  General  Jackson  was  at  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  in  1799 — he  on  the  bench,  a  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Court,  and  I,  a  youth  of  seventeen,  back  in  the  court.  He 
was  then  a  remarkable  man,  and  had  his  ascendant  over  all 
who  approached  him — not  the  effect  of  his  high  judicial 
station,  nor  of  the  senatorial  rank  which  he  had  held  and 
resigned,  nor  of  military  exploits  (for  he  had  not  then  been 
to  war),  but  the  effect  of  personal  qualities,  cordial  and 
graceful  manners,  elevation  of  mind,  undaunted  spirit,  gen- 
erosity, and  perfect  integrity.  In  charging  the  jury  in  the 
pending  case,  he  committed  a  slight  solecism  in  language, 
which  grated  on  my  ear  and  lodged  in  my  memory,  without, 
however,  derogating  in  the  least  from  the  respect  which  he 
inspired.  ...  I  soon  after  became  his  aide,  he  being 
a  major  general  in  the  Tennessee  militia,  made  so  by  a 
majority  of  one  vote.  New  Orleans,  the  Creek  Campaign, 
and  all  other  consequences,  dated  from  that  one  vote." 

It  would  not  be  proper  to  pass  over  this  one  vote  without 
an  explanation,  as  it  throws  much  light  on  General  Jack- 
son's career.  Nothing  in  his  life,  as  far  as  I  know,  is  more 
illustrative  of  that  powerful  magnetism  of  his  nature  than 
this  one  vote.  Jackson  was  elected  major  general  of  the 
militia  of  the  State  over  John  Sevier,  the  great  Indian 
fighter,  who,  up  to  that  time,  was  the  idol  of  the  volunteer 
soldiers  of  Tennessee,  but  Jackson  was  elected  major  general 
of  the  militia  over  him  by  one  vote  in  the  whole  State,  and 
this,  as  Colonel  Benton  says,  this  one  vote,  perhaps,  decided 
the  whole  of  Jackson's  career — including  the  Creek  War, 
the  Battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  his  presidency,  and,  in  fact, 
made  the  Southwest  a  new  political  map. 

Mr.  Benton  further  says : 

"After  that  I  was  habitually  at  his  house,  and  as  an  in- 
mate had  opportunities  to  know  his  domestic  life  when  it 
was  least  understood  and  most  misrepresented.  He  had 
resigned  his  place  on  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court,  as 
he  had  previously  resigned  his  place  in  the  Senate  of  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  97 

United  States,  and  lived  on  a  superb  estate,  twelve  miles 
from  Nashville,  then  hardly  known  by  its  subsequent  name 
of  "The  Hermitage,"  a  name  chosen  for  its  perfect  accord 
with  his  feelings,  for  he  had  then  actually  withdrawn  from 
the  stage  of  public  life,  and  from  a  state  of  feeling  well 
known  to  belong  to  great  talent  when  finding  no  theater  for 
its  congenial  employment." 

Mr.  Benton  then  proceeds  to  show  what  a  careful  farmer 
he  was,  and  what  a  successful  merchant  he  was,  and  in 
describing  more  particularly  his  person,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent his  public  life,  he  goes  on  to  say: 

"His  temper  was  placable,  as  well  as  tractable,  and  his 
reconciliations  were  cordial  and  sincere.  Of  that  my  own 
case  was  a  signal  instance.  After  a  deadly  feud  I  became 
his  confidential  adviser — was  offered  the  highest  marks  of 
his  favor,  and  received  from  his  dying  bed  a  message  of 
friendship,  dictated  when  life  was  departing  and  he  would 
have  to  pause  for  breath." 

In  this  graphic  and  deeply  interesting  statement  of  Mr. 
Benton  he  does  not  do  himself  and  General  Jackson  full 
justice.  They  had  first  met  in  the  Senate  after  their  diffi- 
culty. They  there  met  as  friends,  with  no  apologies  and  no 
explanations.  Then,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  General  Jack- 
son would  have  passed  the  eight  years  as  President  without 
being  literally,  or  rather  politically,  torn  to  pieces  by  Mr. 
Calhoun,  Mr.  Clay,  and  Mr.  Webster,  and  their  followers 
in  the  Senate,  if  Colonel  Benton  had  not  been  there;  and 
if  ever  a  man  on  this  earth  had  a  faithful  friend,  it  was 
Benton  in  the  Senate  in  defense  of  General  Jackson  and  his 
various  positions  taken  through  that  period ;  and  when  Gen- 
eral Jackson  came  to  die  at  the  Hermitage,  about  the  last 
word  he  said  was  (pulling  the  head  of  William  B.  Lewis 
down  to  him,  whispered)  :  "Tell  Colonel  Benton  that  I  am 
grateful  in  my  dying  moments." 


98  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Colonel  Benton  proceeds  in  this  extended  statement: 

"There  was  a  deep-seated  vein  of  piety  in  him — unaf- 
fectedly showed  itself  in  his  reverence  for  divine  worship 
and  constant  encouragement  of  all  the  pious  tendencies  of 
Mrs.  Jackson,  and  when  they  both  afterwards  became  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  it  was  the  natural  and  regular  result  of 
their  early  and  cherished  feelings.  He  was  gentle  in  his 
house,  and  alive  to  the  tenderest  emotions.  I  give  one  in- 
stance: I  arrived  at  his  home  one  wet,  chilly  evening  in 
February,  and  came  upon  him  at  twilight  sitting  alone 
before  the  fire,  a  lamb  and  a  child  between  his  knees.  He 
started  a  little,  called  a  servant  to  remove  the  innocents  to 
another  room,  and  explained  to  me  how  it  was.  He  said 
the  child  had  cried  because  the  lamb  was  out  in  the  cold, 
and  had  begged  him  to  bring  it  in,  which  he  had  done  to 
please  the  child.  This  was  his  little  adopted  son,  then  two 
years  old.  The  ferocious  man  does  not  do  that,  and  even 
though  General  Jackson  had  his  passions  and  his  violence, 
they  were  for  men  and  his  enemies — those  who  stood  up 
against  him,  and  not  for  women  and  children,  or  the  weak 
and  helpless,  for  all  whom  his  feelings  were  those  of  pro- 
tection and  support." 

This  entire  detail  of  the  character  of  General  Jackson  is 
worth  turning  to  in  the  "Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate,"  and 
reading  it  in  full,  but  it  is  too  long  for  the  limits  of  this 
work. 

Really,  the  way  to  know  General  Jackson  is  to  listen  to 
men  of  his  time  who  knew  him,  and  heard  him  talk.  In 
the  early  period  of  this  century"  there  were  some  great 
preachers — among  them  the  most  noted  was  Peter  Cart- 
wright  and  Gideon  Blackburn.  They  were  men  of  great 
force  and  power  with  the  people,  and  with  deep  religious 
convictions.  They  were  both  known  to  General  Jackson 
and  appreciated  by  him.  In  his  sorest  trials  in  the  Creek 
War,  when  his  starving  men  deserted  him,  in  addition  to 
the  letter  he  wrote  to  the  Governor,  he  wrote  the  following 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  99 

letter  to  Gideon  Blackburn,  and  one  in  substance  the  same  to 
Peter  Cartwright.  Nothing  that  I  know  of  shows  General 
Jackson's  great  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  men  and  how  to 
do  things,  better  than  his  interesting  these  two  great 
preachers  when  he  wanted  an  army  to  continue  the  Creek 
campaign : 

''Reverend  Sir: — Your  letter  has  just  been  received.  I 
thank  you  for  it;  I  thank  you  most  sincerely.  It  arrived 
at  a  moment  when  my  spirit  needed  such  a  support. 

"I  left  Tennessee  with  an  army  as  brave,  I  believe,  as  any 
general  ever  commanded.  I  have  seen  them  in  battle,  and 
my  opinion  of  their  bravery  is  not  changed.  But  their 
fortitude — on  this,  too,  I  relied — has  been  too  severely 
tested.  Perhaps  I  was  wrong  in  believing  that  nothing 
but  death  could  conquer  the  spirits  of  brave  men.  I  am 
sure  I  was,  for  my  men  I  know  are  brave;  yet  privations 
have  rendered  them  discontented;  that  is  enough.  The 
expedition  must  nevertheless  be  prosecuted  to  a  successful 
termination.  New  volunteers  must  be  raised  to  conclude 
what  has  been  so  auspiciously  begun  by  the  old  ones. 
Gladly  would  I  save  these  men  from  themselves,  and  insure 
them  a  harvest  which  they  have  sown;  but  if  they  will 
abandon  it,  to  others  it  must  be  so. 

"You  are  good  enough  to  say,  if  I  need  your  assistance 
it  will  be  cheerfully  afforded.  I  do  need  it  greatly.  The 
influence  you  possess  over  the  minds  of  men  is  great  and 
well  founded,  and  can  never  be  better  applied  than  in  sum- 
moning volunteers  to  the  defense  of  their  country,  their 
liberty,  and  their  religion.  While  we  fight  the  savage, 
who  makes  war  only  because  he  delights  in  blood,  and  who 
has  gotten  his  booty  when  he  has  scalped  his  victim,  we 
are,  through  him,  contending  against  an  enemy  of  more  in- 
veterate character  and  deeper  design,  who  would  demolish 
a  fabric  cemented  by  the  blood  of  our  fathers  and  endeared 
to  us  by  all  the  happiness  we  enjoy.  So  far  as  my  exer- 
tions can  contribute,  the  purposes  both  of  the  savage  and 
his  instigator  shall  be  defeated;  and  so  far  as  yours  can,  I 
hope,  I  know,  they  will  be  employed.  I  have  said  enough ; 
I  want  men,  and  want  them  immediately." 


100  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

This  was  certainly  a  unique  step  for  a  general  at  the 
head  of  an  army  to  take.  It  was  true  he  was  then  left  in 
the  wilderness  with  109  men  only — all  the  others  had  gone 
back  to  get  something  to  eat.  It  was  then  he  wrote  that 
wonderful  letter;  that  is,  as  I  believe,  a  key  to  all  his  state 
papers,  because  written  in  the  wilderness  under  circum- 
stances which  show  he  must  have  written  it  himself,  and  at 
once  assures  his  capacity  to  write  anything.  But  these  two 
letters  to  these  two  great  preachers,  with  their  power  over 
the  people  at  that  time,  probably  did  more  to  raise  him  a 
new  army  than  did  the  letter  to  the  Governor.  They  were 
his  devoted  friends  through  life,  and  he  was  theirs. 

One  of  the  most  unique,  interesting,  and  stirring  books 
that  found  its  way  into  public  print  among  the  people  of  the 
wild  West  is  the  "Autobiography  of  Peter  Cartwright." 
Among  the  very  many  readable  things  in  the  very  readable 
book  is  an  incident  in  which  General  Jackson  figures.  The 
whole  sketch  takes  several  pages,  but  I  epitomize,  and  it  is 
about  this : 

"Peter  Cartwright  and  Gideon  Blackburn  were  attending 
a  Methodist  Conference  at  Nashville  in  the  early  days. 
They  were  both  conspicuous  as  preachers — most  conspicu- 
ous— for,  indeed,  they  were  the  advance  guard  in  a  new 
country  of  that  class  of  preachers  that  took  such  an  active 
part  in  the  country's  affairs  at  that  time,  and  shortly  after. 
Peter  Cartwright  says,  in  his  autobiography,  that  the 
preachers,  generally,  and  the  people  wanted  to  hear  Black- 
burn and  himself  preach,  but  it  soon  became  apparent  that 
the  bishop  was  afraid  to  risk  either  of  them;  but,  under 
the  pressure  of  the  people,  he  says,  the  bishop  appointed 
him  to  preach  at  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  said  to  him 
when  he  told  him  of  his  appointment,  'Now,  Cartwright,  I 
want  you  to  be  just  as  polite  as  possible,  and  respectful  to 
those  Presbyterians  as  you  can.  Dori't  say  anything  about 
doctrine,  and  don't  say  anything  that  will  be  unpleasant, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  101 

but  just  go  along  and  be  a  decent  man.'  He  says  he  re- 
plied to  the  bishop,  and  said :  'Well,  sir,  you  have  sent  me  to 
preach  to  them  Presbyterians,  and  I  am  going  to  preach 
my  own  sermon,  and  I  tell  you  that  I  will  give  them  Pres- 
byterians something  on  the  damnation  of  infants — a  part 
of  their  doctrine — which  they  will  remember.'  He  says 
thereupon  the  bishop  changed  him  and  ordered  him  to 
preach  at  the  Methodist  Church,  and  that  when  he  got 
started  in  his  sermon,  with  the  preacher  in  charge  sitting  be- 
hind him,  General  Jackson  came  in  at  the  door— the  church 
crowded  and  the  aisles  packed — and  stopped  for  a  moment, 
not  seeing  his  way.  He  says  at  that  time  the  preacher  in 
charge  touched  his  coat-tail  and  said  to  him  in  a  whisper, 
'General  Jackson  has  just  come  in.'  He  says  at  that  he 
felt  somewhat  indignant  and  blabbed  out,  'What  is  that  if 
General  Jackson  has  come  in?  In  the  eyes  of  God  he  is 
no  bigger  than  any  other  man;  and  I  tell  General  Jackson 
now,  if  he  don't  repent  and  get  forgiveness  for  his  sins,  God 
Almighty  will  damn  him  just  as  quick  as  he  would  a  guinea 
nigger.'  He  says  General  Jackson  looked  him  up  the  next 
day,  and  told  him  he  liked  that  sort  of  brave  preaching." 

Among  the  many  incidents  yet  to  be  recorded  in  the  life 
of  the  great  soldier,  there  are  none  more  touching  and  more 
effectually  opens  to  the  public  eye  the  great,  big,  generous 
heart  of  Andrew  Jackson  than  the  pathetic  story  of  Lin- 
coyer.  When  General  Coffee  checked  the  advance  of  the 
Creek  Indians — the  murderers  of  400  women  and  children 
at  Fort  Minims,  at  Tallushatches  (now  known  as  Talla- 
hassee), or  the  Ten  Islands,  killing  every  warrior  engaged 
in  the  battle,  the  battle  being  fought  in  the  town — an  Indian 
woman  was  accidentally  killed,  and  when  found  by  General 
Coffee  after  the  battle  there  was  on  her  breast  an  infant 
only  a  few  days  old.  All  the  women  and  children,  and 
among  them  this  infant,  were  taken  to  General  Jackson's 
headquarters.  The  story  given  him  by  General  Coffee 


102  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

touched  his  great  big  heart.  In  his  chest  was  a  small 
supply  of  sugar,  with  which  he  kept  the  child  alive.  The 
Indian  women  refused  to  nurse  him,  saying:  "All  his  kin 
are  dead;  let  him  die."  In  a  few  days  General  Jackson 
sent  the  child  back  to  Huntsville,  perhaps  a  hundred  miles, 
with  instructions  to  employ  a  nurse  at  his  expense.  This 
was  early  in  November,  1813,  and  so  the  Indian  boy  was 
nursed  and  kept  alive  until  General  Jackson  came  home  in 
1815,  the  acknowledged  victor  over  the  British  army,  and 
a  great  nation  singing  his  praises  in  every  home.  But  he 
remembered  the  Indian  baby  and  sent  for  it ;  had  it  brought 
to  the  Hermitage,  where  he  became  the  object  of  tender  care 
by  both  the  General  and  Mrs.  Jackson.  The  General  named 
the  boy  Lincoyer.  For  fifteen  years  the  Indian  boy  was  the 
pet  at  the  Hermitage ;  then  the  General  took  him  to  the  city 
and  put  him 'at  a  trade,  the  same  trade  that  he  had  learned 
when  a  boy,  that  of  harnessmaker.  The  Indian  boy  worked 
in  the  shop,  but  spent  his  Sundays  at  the  Hermitage,  until 
his  health  failed.  Then  he  went  back  to  the  home  and 
care  of  Mrs.  Jackson,  who  nursed  him  until  he  died  of  con- 
sumption, at  the  age  of  seventeen.  When  he  died  the  great 
conqueror  of  Packinham  wept  as  if  the  boy  had  been  his 
own  son. 

That  General  Jackson's  life,  stormy  as  it  was,  had  an 
anchor  in  the  wife  he  ever  adored,  whose  tenderness  was 
much  more  to  him  than  the  anchor  is  to  the  great  ship  in  the 
storm,  is  a  fact  that  no  biographer  could  afford  to  omit.  That 
you  may  really  know  something  of  this  noble  and  deeply 
pious  woman,  and  to  be  able  to  estimate  her  influence  on  the 
man  of  iron,  I  shall  take  frequent  occasion  to  make  reference 
to  her.  Mrs.  Jackson  was  the  daughter  of  a  rich  man,  Col- 
onel Donelson,  and  was  perhaps  the  best  educated  young 
woman  in  the  early  days  of  Nashville,  though  she  would  not 
now  be  called  an  accomplished  woman.  Some  of  her  letters 
have  been  preserved,  and  they  show  that  great  injustice  has 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  103 

been  done  her  by  both  tongue  and  pen  gossipers.  She  was 
the  most  beloved  of  women,  and  no  great  man  loaded  down 
with  life's  mighty  responsibilities  ever  had  in  a  wife  a  more 
enduring  solace  than  did  General  Jackson — a  wife  to  curb 
and  comfort,  a  wife  who  ever  reminded  him  that  he  was 
only  mortal,  and  that  he  had  a  Heavenly  Father  to  care 
for  him.  I  give  one  of  her  letters  written  from  Washing- 
ton, when  he  was  there  as  Senator  and  candidate  for  Presi- 
dent in  1823,  written  under  circumstances  that,  with  most 
women,  intensify  life's  pleasures  at  the  cost  of  Christian 
virtues : 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C, — 

"Mrs.  Jackson  to  Mrs.  Eliza  Kingsley: 

"The  present  moment  is  the  first  I  can  call  my  own  since 
my  arrival  in  this  great  city.  Our  journey  indeed  was 
fatiguing.  We  were  twenty-seven  days  on  the  road,  but 
no  accident  happened  to  us.  My  dear  husband  is  in  better 
health  than  when  he  came.  We  are  boarding  in  the  same 
house  with  the  nation's  guest,  Lafayette.  I  am  delighted 
with  him.  All  the  attention — all  the  parties  he  goes  to — 
never  appear  to  have  any  effect  on  him.  In  fact,  he  is  an 
extraordinary  man;  he  has  the  happy  talent  of  knowing 
those  he  has  once  seen.  For  instance,  when  he  first  came  to 
visit  this  house,  the  General  said  he  would  go  and  pay  the 
Marquis  the  first  visit.  Both  having  the  same  desire,  and 
at  the  same  time,  they  met  on  the  entry  of  the  stairs.  It 
was  truly  interesting.  The  emotion  of  revolutionary  feel- 
ings was  aroused  in  them  both.  At  Charleston,  General 
Jackson  saw  him  on  the  field  of  battle — the  one  a  boy  of 
twelve,  the  Marquis  twenty-three.  He  wears  a  wig,  and 
is  a  little  inclined  to  corpulency.  He  is  very  healthy,  eats 
hearty,  goes  to  every  party,  and  that  is  every  night. 

"To  tell  you  of  this  city,  I  could  not  do  justice  to  the 
subject.  The  extravagance  is  in  dressing  and  running  to 
parties ;  but  I  must  say  they  regard  the  Sabbath  in  attending 
preaching,  for  there  are  churches  of  every  denomination, 
and  able  ministers  of  the  gospel.  We  have  been  here  two 
Sabbaths.  The  General  and  myself  were  both  days  at 
church.  Mr.  Baker  is  the  pastor  of  the  church  we  go  to. 


104  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

He  is  a  fine  man — a  plain,  good  preacher.  We  were  waited 
on  by  two  of  Mr.  Balches'  elders,  inviting  us  to  take  a  pew 
in  his  church  at  Georgetown,  but  previous  to  that  I  had  an 
invitation  to  the  other.  General  Cole,  Mary  Emily,  and 
Andrew  went  to  the  Episcopal  Church. 

"Oh,  my  dear  friend,  how  shall  I  get  through  this  bustle? 
There  are  not  less  than  fifty  to  one  hundred  persons  calling 
a  day.  My  dear  husband  was  unwell  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  journey,  but,  thanks  to  our  Heavenly  Father,  his  health 
is  improving.  Still  his  appetite  is  delicate,  and  company 
and  business  are  oppressive ;  but  I  look  unto  the  Lord,  from 
whence  comes  all  my  comforts.  I  have  the  precious 
promise,  and  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth. 

"Don't  be  afraid  of  my  giving  away  to  those  vain  things. 
The  Apostle  says:  'I  can  do  all  things  in  Christ,  who 
strengtheneth  me.'  The  play-actors  sent  me  a  letter,  re- 
questing my  countenance  to  them.  No.  A  ticket  to  balls 
and  parties.  No,  not  one;  two  dinings;  several  times  to 
drink  tea.  Indeed,  Mr.  Jackson  encourages  me  in  my 
course.  I  am  going  today  to  hear  Mr.  Summerfield.  He 
preaches  in  the  Methodist  Church — a  very  highly  spoken  of 
minister.  Glory  to  God  for  the  privilege.  Not  a  day  or 
night  but  there  is  church  open  for  prayer." 

A  celebrated  divine  of  New  York,  Dr.  VanPelt,  gives  an 
interesting  interview  he  had  with  General  Jackson  during 
his  last  term  in  the  presidential  chair,  in  which  he  says 
General  Jackson  remarked: 

"We  have  the  best  country  and  the  best  institutions  in 
the  world.  No  people  have  so  much  to  be  grateful  for  as 
we;  but,  ah,  my  reverend  friend,  there  is  one  thing  I  fear 
will  yet  sap  the  foundations  of  our  liberty — that  monster 
institution,  the  Bank  of  the  United  States." 

Continuing,  the  Doctor  said :  "I  hear,  General,  that  you 
were  blessed  with  a  Christian  companion."  (Companion 
is  clerical  for  wife.)  "Yes,"  said  the  President,  "my  wife 
was  a  pious  Christian  woman.  She  gave  me  the  best  ad- 
vice, and  I  have  not  been  unmindful  of  it.  When  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  105 

people  in  their  sovereign  pleasure  elected  me  President  of 
the  United  States,  she  said  to  me:  'Don't  let  your  oppor- 
tunity turn  your  mind  away  from  the  duty  you  owe  to  God. 
Before  him  we  are  all  alike  sinners,  and  to  him  we  must  all 
alike  give  account.  All  these  things  will  pass  away,  and 
you  and  I,  and  all  of  us  must  stand  before  God.'  I  have 
never  forgotten  it,  Doctor,  and  I  never  shall."  Tears  were 
in  his  eyes,  adds  Dr.  VanPelt,  as  he  said  these  words. 


106  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

JACKSON  ORDERED  TO  RAISE  AN  ARMY  AND  PROTECT  THE 

FRONTIER BRITISH    THEN    CLAIMING    EVERYTHING; 

VICTORIES    HAD    MADE    THEM     HAUGHTY LONDON 

PAPERS  ON  WAR MINISTERS  AT  GHENT  ALARMED 

NAPOLEON'S  CAPITULATION  —  SENT  WELLINGTON'S 
FORCES  TO  UNITED  STATES HENCE  JACKSON  CON- 
QUERED THE  WORLD'S  CONQUERORS. 

f  •  \  HE  Creek  Campaign,  as  it  is  usually  called,  is  a 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  country  full  of  marked 
features,  incidents  of  moral  and  physical  courage, 
all  crowned  with  success  and  far-reaching  results. 

When  General  Jackson  was  summoned,  and  taken  out  of 
the  hands  of  his  surgeons,  to  raise  an  army  and  protect  the 
frontiers  of  Tennessee  and  Georgia  from  what  threatened 
to  be  the  most  dreadful  and  diabolical  war  that  the  savages 
had  ever  waged  against  the  white  people  on  the  continent, 
the  British  armies  in  the  Northern  States  on  the  Canada 
line  were  having  a  succession  of  victories  over  our  armies, 
which  indicated  a  decline  in  American  pluck,  and  which 
had  produced  such  a  profound  impression  in  Great  Britain 
that  her  commissioners,  then  at  Ghent,  with  our  commis- 
sioners, were  making  most  extraordinary  demands,  claiming 
concessions  which,  if  agreed  to,  would  have  brought  upon 
us  the  deepest  humiliation. 

So  sure  was  the  Government  that  the  next  great  blow 
would  be  at  the  South,  by  landing  an  army  at  Mobile  or 
New  Orleans,  with  a  view  of  overrunning  the  South,  that 
General  Jackson  had  in  the  fall  of  1812  been  ordered  to 
raise  an  army  and  go  down  the  Mississippi  River  and  await 
orders.  But  as  shown  in  a  former  chapter,  when  he 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  107 

reached  Natchez  he  was  ordered  to  disband  his  army,  which 
he  promptly  proceeded  not  to  do,  and  marched  it  back  to 
Nashville,  where  he  disbanded  it  in  the  spring  of  1813. 

The  success  of  the  British  army  in  capturing  Washing- 
ton, and  in  all  the  battles  on  the  Canadian  line,  and  the 
threatened  uprising  of  the  Indians  in  the  Northwest  and 
the  South,  was  rapidly  making  in  other  parts  of  the  country 
besides  New  England  a  very  powerful  peace  party,  the  re- 
sult of  all  which  was  to  send  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Adams,  Mr. 
Gallatin,  Mr.  Russell,  and  Mr.  Bayard  to  Europe  to  nego- 
tiate a  treaty  of  peace,  if  possible.  The  condition  in  this 
country  and  the  outlook  were  fully  exemplified  by  the  de- 
mands of  the  British  when  they  met  our  commissioners  at 
Ghent.  Putting  their  demands  upon  their  victories,  and 
what  seemed  to  be  the  certain  triumphant  success  of  their 
arms,  they  demanded  that  we  should  yield  the  right  of 
search — what  we  were  fighting  about;  that  we  should  give 
them  equal  rights  with  us  in  the  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi River;  that  we  should  not  keep  ships  of  war  on  the 
lakes,  and  that  we  should  surrender  a  large  part  of  our 
territory  —  all  of  what  is  now  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
a  large  part  of  what  is  now  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  Indiana. 

To  their  demand,  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  brought  on  the  war 
by  a  single  speech  in  Congress,  made  reply  that  "here  we 
stop,"  and  there  was  no  further  discussion  of  terms  until 
Jackson  gained  his  great  victories  over  the  Creek  Indians 
in  the  winter  of  1813-14,  and  the  news  reached  Ghent. 

The  British  were  making  preparations  for  bringing  an 
immense  army  to  the  South — an  army  made  up,  as  was 
threatened,  of  trained  British  soldiers,  Indians  from  the 
Northwest  and  negroes  from  St.  Domingo,  while  New  Eng- 
land, after  a  great  struggle  between  the  profits  of  commerce 
and  the  consequences  of  war,  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter 
and  brought  on  the  Revolution;  yet  they  were  utterly  op- 
posed to  the  war  of  1812.  Not  only  the  Hartford  Con- 


108  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

vention,  but  the  press  and  the  people  were  outspoken  against 
it ;  and  after  the  capture  of  the  cities  and  the  defeat  of  our 
armies  on  the  lakes  and  along  the  Canadian  line,  they  were 
clamorous  for  peace  on  any  terms.  The  administration, 
while  it  was  doing  its  whole  duty,  and  the  President,  Mr. 
Madison,  was  standing  courageously  by  the  army,  it 
realized  fully  our  lack  of  preparation,  and  the  odds  against 
us  in  fighting  trained  soldiers  with  raw  militia. 

England  had  never  been  content  under  the  surrender  of 
Lord  Cornwallis,  and  the  war  of  1812  was  popular  in 
England.  England  had  bullied  the  United  States  for  years 
to  bring  on  the  war  by  searching  our  ships  and  taking  our 
seamen,  and  putting  them  in  the  army  or  in  jail.  At  the 
time  Jackson  was  fighting  and  destroying  the  British  allies, 
in  Hyde  Park  they  were  having  sham  battles  to  amuse 
the  public  by  a  display  of  British  valor  over  American 
cowardice. 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  press  comments  on  the  war  from 
the  London  Sun,  of  September  3,  1814: 

"The  American  armies  of  copper  captains  and  Falstaff 
recruits  defy  the  pen  of  satire  to  paint  them  worse  than 
they  are  —  worthless,  lying,  treacherous,  false,  slanderous, 
cowardly  and  vaporing  heroes,  with  boasting  on  their  lying 
tongues  and  terror  in  their  quaking  hearts.  Were  it  not  that 
the  course  of  punishment  is  necessary  to  the  ends  of  moral 
and  political  justice,  we  declare  before  our  country  that 
we  should  feel  ashamed  of  victory  over  such  ignoble  foes. 
The  quarrel  resembles  one  between  a  gentleman  and  a 
chimney-sweeper;  the  former  may  beat  the  latter  to  his 
heart's  content,  but  there  is  no  honor  in  the  exploit,  and  he 
is  sure  to  be  wounded  with  the  soil  and  dirt  of  his  ignomin- 
ious antagonist.  But  necessity  will  sometimes  compel  us 
to  descend  from  our  station  to  chastise  a  vagabond  and  en- 
dure the  disgrace  of  a  contact,  in  order  to  suppress  by 
wholesome  correction  the  presumptious  insolence  and  mis- 
chievous design  of  the  basest  assailant." 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  109 

The  London  Times  said,  in  speaking  of  President 
Madison : 

"This  fellow,  notorious  for  lying,  for  insolence  of  all 
kinds,  for  his  barbarous  warfare,  both  in  Canada  and 
against  the  Creek  Indians." 

The  English  people  were  not  only  elated  and  boastful 
over  their  victories,  but  the  long  war  with  France  had  just 
ended,  and  the  allied  powers  had  compelled  the  capitulation 
of  Napoleon,  and  England  was  in  position  to  concentrate  all 
her  forces  on  the  United  States.  Such  had  been  our  dis- 
asters in  the  North  that  the  Administration  was  more  than 
anxious  for  peace.  While  General  Jackson  was  prosecut- 
ing this  campaign  against  the  Indians,  great  events  were 
taking  place  in  Europe,  which  with  the  Administration  and 
public  men  generally  caused  the  greatest  anxiety.  The 
allied  powers  were  so  pressing  Napoleon  that  France  gave 
signs  of  yielding,  which  was  a  great  relief  to  England,  then 
carrying  on  two  wars — one  with  France  and  the  other  with 
the  United  States;  there  was  a  strong  hope  expressed  that 
the  military  power  of  England  could  be  turned  against  the 
United  States. 

Bouerrenne,  in  his  "Memoirs  of  Napoleon,"  shows  that 
finally,  and  on  the  7th  of  April,  1814,  Napoleon  consented 
to  the  evacuation  of  Italy,  and  on  the  I3th  of  the  same 
month  signed  the  stipulation  for  banishment  to  Elba.  This 
freed  the  great  armies  of  England,  and  she  at  once  com- 
menced the  preparation  of  increasing  the  army  and  navy 
against  the  United  States,  and  especially  of  turning  from 
the  North  to  the  South,  which  was  to  be  overrun.  General 
Packinham,  the  brother-in-law  of  Wellington,  who  had 
served  under  him  in  the  Italian  and  French  campaigns,  was 
to  be  put  in  command.  The  Administration  was  grievously 
perplexed  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  in  different  capacities  it 
had  sent  to  Europe  our  greatest  statesmen.  When  the 


HO  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

downfall  was  made  known  to  these  gentlemen  —  Clay  at 
Gottenburg,  Crawford  at  Paris,  Bayard  at  Ceylon,  Gallatin 
at  London,  and  Russell  at  Stockholm,  it  was  agreed  by  them 
that  the  chances  of  peace  were  greatly  lessened. 

Mr.  Gallatin,  on  the  22d  of  April,  1814,  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter  to  Mr.  Clay : 

"You  are  sufficiently  aware  of  the  total  change  in  our 
affairs  produced  by  the  late  revolution  and  by  the  restora- 
tion of  universal  peace  in  the  European  world,  from  which 
we  are  alone  excluded.  A  well-organized  and  large  army 
is  at  once  liberated  from  European  employment,  and  ready, 
together  with  a  superabundant  naval  force,  to  act  imme- 
diately against  us.  How  ill-prepared  we  are  in  a  proper 
manner  to  meet  such  a  force  no  one  knows  better  than  your- 
self;  but  above  all,  our  own  divisions  and  the  hostile  atti- 
tude of  the  Eastern  States  give  room  to  apprehend  that  a 
continuance  of  the  war  might  prove  vitally  fatal  to  the 
United  States.  I  understand  that  the  ministers,  with  whom 
we  have  not  had  any  direct  intercourse,  still  profess  to  be 
disposed  to  make  an  equitable  peace.  But  they  hope  not 
of  ultimate  conquest,  but  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union ;  the 
convenient  pretense  which  the  American  War  will  afford 
to  preserve  a  large  military  establishment;  and  above  all 
the  force  of  popular  feeling  may  all  unite  in  inducing  the 
Cabinet  in  throwing  impediment  in  the  way  of  peace.  They 
will  not  certainly  be  disposed  to  make  concessions;  not 
probably  be  displeased  at  a  failure  of  negotiations.  That 
the  war  is  popular  and  that  national  pride,  inflated  by  the 
last  unprecedented  success,  cannot  be  satisfied  without 
what  they  call  the  'chastisement  of  America,'  cannot  be 
doubted.  The  mass  of  people  here  know  nothing  of 
American  politics  but  through  the  medium  of  Federal 
speeches  and  newspapers,  faithfully  transcribed  in  their  own 
journals.  They  do  not  even  suspect  that  we  have  any 
just  cause  of  complaint,  and  consider  us  altogether  the  ag- 
gressors and  as  allies  of  Bonaparte." 

The  British  Ministry  acted  promptly,  and  Mr.  Gallatin 
wrote  from  London  a  letter  to  the  President,  which  came  on 
the  same  ship  that  brought  the  news  of  the  downfall  of 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  Ill 

Napoleon,  giving  him  evidence  of  what  had  been  resolved 
upon.  He  said  "great  fleets  were  being  prepared  and  every 
city  on  the  sea  was  alive.  He  knew  not  where  the  first 
blow  would  fall ;  he  did  know,  he  said,  of  the  intended  con- 
quest of  the  Southwest." 

When  Clay,  Gallatin,  Adams,  Bayard,  and  Russell  met 
the  British  Ministers  at  Ghent,  demands  were  made  in  view 
of  the  great  victories  in  the  North  and  England's  freedom 
from  a  war  at  home,  which  astonished  our  commissioners 
in  their  boldness  and  far-reaching  purpose — nothing  short 
of  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  the 
cession  of  a  large  part  of  our  territory  to  be  given  up. 

But  the  noble  courage  of  Mr.  Clay,  at  Ghent,  in  all  proba- 
bility prevented  some  concession,  which  would  have  been 
deeply  humiliating. 

To  fully  appreciate  the  character  and  conduct  of  General 
Jackson  in  the  Creek  War,  and  how  in  his  appreciation  of  it 
he  towered  above  all  other  men,  it  is  necessary  that  I  give 
a  sketch  of  that  powerful  tribe  of  Indians,  how  the  war 
was  brought  on,  and  what  character  of  war  it  was. 

The  Creeks  had  from  the  first  settlement  by  Europeans 
in  the  South  always  been  regarded  as  the  most  powerful 
of  all  the  Indian  tribes,  and  greater  efforts  had  been  made  to 
make  friends  of  them  than  any  other  tribe.  They  inhabited 
a  vast  country,  now  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  and  parts  of 
Georgia,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Creek  War,  Alabama  and 
Mississippi  were  known  as  the  Mississippi  Territory.  The 
Government  had,  with  a  view  of  friendship,  kept  a  Mr. 
Hawkins  with  them  for  many  years  (appointed  by  Wash- 
ington), cultivating  friendly  relations  by  association  and 
making  presents.  He  was  a  wise  man  and  exercised  good 
influence,  and  for  a  long  time  previous  to  the  War  of  1812 
they  had  been  on  good  terms  with  the  whites  and  had  gen- 
erally respected  their  treaties.  They  had  fully  10,000  war- 
riors— braves. 


112  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

The  uprising  of  the  Creek  Indians  and  the  dread  spectacle 
of  an  Indian  war  on  the  frontiers,  under  the  black  flag,  was 
the  work  of  Tecumseh.  He  was  not  a  Creek;  he  was  of 
the  same  tribe  as  Logan,  a  great  orator  and  a  much  greater 
man.  They  were  Shawanoes,  a  tribe  that  once  lived  in  the 
South  and  were  neighbors  to  the  Creeks,  but  they  settled 
in  the  valley  of  the  Miamis,  where  Tecumseh  was  born. 
All  who  knew  him  and  wrote  about  him  represented  him  as 
a  man  of  great  intellect,  a  powerful  man  physically,  and 
a  man  of  wonderful  force  of  character. 

Drake,  in  his  "Life  of  Tecumseh,"  says: 

"Investigation  establishes  that  Tecumseh,  though  not  the 
faultless  ideal  of  a  patriot  prince  that  romantic  story  repre- 
sents him,  was  all  of  a  patriot,  a  hero,  a  man  that  an  Indian 
can  be.  If  to  conceive  a  grand,  difficult,  and  unselfish 
project;  to  labor  for  many  years  with  enthusiasm  and  pru- 
dence in  executing  it,  or  attempting  its  execution ;  to  enlist 
in  it  by  the  magnetism  of  personal  influence  great  multitudes 
of  various  tribes;  to  contend  for  it  with  unfaltering  valor 
longer  than  there  was  hope  of  success ;  and  to  die  fighting 
for  it  to  the  last,  falling  forward  toward  the  enemy  covered 
with  wounds,  is  to  give  proof  of  an  heroic  cast  of  character, 
then,  is  the  Shawanoe  chief,  Tecumseh,  in  whose  veins 
flowed  no  blood  that  was  not  Indian,  entitled  to  rank  among 
heroes." 

For  an  Indian  he  was  humane,  and  compelled  his  people 
to  abandon  the  practice  of  torturing  prisoners. 

General  Harrison,  who  finally  conquered  him,  says  of  him : 

"He  was  one  of  those  uncommon  geniuses  which  spring 
up  occasionally  to  produce  revolutions  and  overturn  the 
order  of  things.  If  it  were  not  for  the  vicinity  of  the  United 
States,  he  would,  perhaps,  be  the  founder  of  an  empire  that 
would  rival  in  glory  Mexico  or  Peru.  No  difficulties  deter 
him.  For  four  years  he  has  been  in  constant  motion.  You 
see  him  today  on  the  Wabash,  and  in  a  short  time  hear  of 
him  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  or  Michigan,  or  on  the  banks 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  113 

of  the  Mississippi ;    and  wherever  he  goes  he  makes  an 
impression  favorable  to  his  purpose." 

Mr.  Pickett,  in  his  "History  of  Alabama,"  gives  an  inter- 
esting account  of  his  inauguration  of  the  Creek  War  as 
follows : 

"The  ancient  capital  of  the  Creeks  never  looked  so  gay 
and  populous.  An  autumnal  sun  glittered  upon  the  yellow 
faces  of  5,000  natives,  besides  whites  and  negroes,  who 
mingled  with  them.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  agent's  first 
day's  addresss,  Tecumseh,  at  the  head  of  the  Ohio  party, 
marched  into  the  square.  They  were  entirely  naked,  except 
their  flaps  and  ornaments.  Their  faces  were  painted  black, 
and  their  heads  adorned  with  eagle  plumes,  while  buffalo 
tails  dragged  from  behind,  suspended  from  bands  which 
went  around  their  waists.  Buffalo  tails  were  also  attached 
to  their  arms,  and  made  to  stand  out  by  means  of  beads. 
Their  appearance  was  hideous,  and  their  bearing  pompous 
and  ceremonious.  They  marched  round  and  round  in  the 
square;  then  approaching  the  chiefs,  they  cordially  shook 
them  with  the  whole  length  of  the  arm  and  exchanged 
tobacco,  a ,  common  ceremony  with  the  Indians  denoting 
friendship.  Captain  Isaacs,  Chief  of  Coosawda,  was  the 
only  one  who  refused  to  exchange  tobacco.  His  head, 
adorned  with  its  usual  costume,  a  pair  of  buffalo  horns, 
was  shaken  in  contempt  of  Tecumseh,  who,  he  said,  was  a 
bad  man,  and  no  greater  than  he  was. 

"Every  day  Tecumseh  appeared  in  the  square  to  deliver 
his  'talk,'  and  all  everywhere  anxious  to  hear  it ;  but  late  in 
the  evening  he  would  rise  and  say :  'The  sun  had  gone  too 
far  today;  I  will  make  my  talk  tomorrow.'  At  length 
Hawkins  terminated  his  business  and  departed  for  the 
agency  upon  the  Flint.  That  night  a  grand  council  was 
held  in  the  great  round-house.  Tecumseh,  presenting  his 
graceful  and  majestic  form  above  the  heads  of  hundreds, 
made  known  his  mission  in  a  long  speech,  full  of  fire  and 
vengeance.  He  exhorted  them  to  return  to  their  primitive 
customs,  to  throw  aside  the  plow  and  loom,  and  to  abandon 
an  agricultural  life,  which  was  unbecoming  Indian  warriors. 
He  told  them  that  after  the  whites  had  possessed  the  greater 


114  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

part  of  their  country,  turned  its  beautiful  forests  into  large 
fields,  and  stained  their  rivers  with  the  washings  of  the  soil, 
they  would  then  subject  them  to  African  servitude.  He 
exhorted  them  to  assimilate  in  no  way  with  the  grasping, 
unprincipled  race,  to  use  none  of  their  arms,  and  wear  none 
of  their  clothes,  but  dress  in  the  skins  of  beasts  which  the 
Great  Spirit  had  given  his  red  children  for  food  and  raiment, 
and  to  use  the  war  club,  the  scalping  knife  and  the  bow. 
He  concluded  by  announcing  that  the  British,  their  former 
friends,  had  sent  him  from  the  Big  Lakes  to  procure  their 
services  in  expelling  the  Americans  from  all  Indian  soil; 
that  the  King  of  England  was  ready  handsomely  to  reward 
all  who  would  fight  for  his  cause." 

That  this  campaign  of  muscles  was  inspired  by  England's 
orders  to  an  ally  is  admitted  by  Colonel  Nichol,  who  after- 
wards led  the  Indians  against  Mobile. 

"A  prophet,  who  was  one  of  the  party  of  Tecumseh,  next 
spoke.  He  said  that  he  frequently  communed  with  the 
Great  Spirit,  who  had  sent  Tecumseh  to  their  country  upon 
this  mission,  the  character  of  which  that  great  chief 
had  described.  He  declared  that  those  who  would  join 
the  war  party  should  be  shielded  from  all  harm,  and  none 
would  be  killed  in  battle;  that  the  Great  Spirit  would  sur- 
round them  with  quagmires,  which  would  swallow  up  the 
Americans  as  they  approached;  that  they  would  finally 
expel  every  Georgian  from  the  soil  as  far  as  Savannah ;  that 
they  would  see  the  arms  of  Tecumseh  stretched  out  in  the 
heavens  at  a  certain  time,  and  that  they  would  then  know 
when  to  begin  war. 

"A  short  time  before  daylight  the  council  adjourned,  and 
more  than  half  the  audience  had  already  resolved  to  go  to 
war  against  the  Americans. 

"To  his  public  addresses  from  town  to  town,  Tecumseh 
added  private  persuasion.  He  established  prophets  in 
various  places  to  do  the  requisite  howling  and  dancing,  and 
to  perform  miracles.  His  utmost  exertions  were  employed 
in  gaining  over  the  great  chiefs. 

"Among  his  first  disciples,  and  quite  his  greatest,  was 
Weatherford,  a  half-breed,  a  man  of  kindred  spirit  to  him- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  115 

self,  possessing  much  of  his  own  grandeur  of  idea;   hand- 
some, sagacious,  eloquent,  and  brave." 

This  was  a  peace  council,  being  held  at  the  ancient  capital 
of  the  Creek  Nation,  on  the  Alabama  River,  held  by  and 
between  the  Government  agent,  Hawkins,  and  the  chiefs  of 
the  Creek  Nation ;  and  it  was  while  this  council  was  being 
held,  as  shown,  that  the  war  was  decided  upon. 

Tecumseh  was  not  simply  the  ally  of  the  British ;  his  war 
was  older  than  the  War  of  1812.  He  had  gone  from  tribe 
to  tribe  in  the  Northwest,  and  with  his  brother,  the  prophet, 
had  incited  all  of  them  to  war,  and  it  was  in  these  wars  that 
General  Harrison  made  the  reputation  that  elected  him 
President  in  1840. 

Though  in  one  sense  he  was  a  humane  Indian,  yet  his  fight 
was  to  get  back  the  country  the  white  people  had  taken  from 
them ;  and  by  his  commanding  presence  and  great  power  of 
oratory,  he  educated  all  the  tribes  he  came  in  contact  with  up 
to  the  point  of  recovering  their  lost  country,  and  that  this 
could  only  be  done  by  killing  all  the  white  people  as  they 
came  to  them. 

When  the  war  was  commenced  by  the  massacre  of  400, 
mostly  women  and  children,  at  Fort  Mimms,  it  was  the 
beginning  of  what  ought  to  be  called  the  British-Creek-Black 
Flag  war.  It  meant  attack  on  the  frontiers  of  Tennessee 
and  Georgia,  and  the  death  of  all,  old  and  young,  male  and 
female,  as  they  came  to  them. 

While  Tecumseh  had  instigated  this  war  of  many  tribes 
before  the  War  of  1812,  which  was  declared  in  June,  yet 
before  he  came  South,  in  1813,  he  had  fully  identified  him- 
self with  the  King's  cause,  and  had  the  pledge  of  the  British 
Government  that  the  Indians  should  be  restored  to  all  their 
aboriginal  rights. 

By  the  threatening  outlook  and  uprising  of  the  Indians 
in  the  summer  of  1813  —  and  there  was  much  evidence  that 


116  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

they  were  not  only  aroused  and  set  on  by  the  British,  but 
that  in  some  way  they  were  encouraged  in  their  hellish  mode 
of  carrying  on  the  war  —  so  great  was  the  alarm  that  the 
people,  the  women  and  children  especially,  from  an  extensive 
and  thinly-settled  community  had  flocked  to  the  place  known 
as  Fort  Mimms,  on  the  Alabama  River,  where  some  houses 
and  barracks  had  been  built  by  a  wealthy  settler  named 
Mimms. 

The  massacre  was  one  of  the  most  shocking,  brutal,  and 
barbarous  known  in  history.  The  whole  country  was  in 
dread  fear,  and  the  few  people  left  in  the  territory  were 
fleeing  for  their  lives.  Days  after  the  horrible  deed,  400 
mangled  and  decaying  bodies  were  being  devoured  by  dogs 
and  swarms  of  vulture  that  had  collected  from  far  and  near. 

It  is  said  that  when  the  news  of  this  butchery,  which  was 
at  the  end  of  thirty-one  days,  reached  New  York,  it  made 
among  the  people  but  little  impression,  so  absorbed  were 
they  in  the  war  that  was  coming  home  to  them  with  all  the 
dread  foreboding  of  defeat. 

In  all  the  history  of  glorious  Tennessee — at  New  Orleans, 
at  King's  Mountain,  and  on  many  fields,  always  the  first  to 
hear  the  cry  for  help  and  to  rally  under  the  flag  —  there  is 
no  leaf  in  her  history  that  I  would  be  slower  to  tear  out  than 
the  one  recounting  the  manhood  of  the  Tennesseans  at  this 
dreadful  crisis. 

At  the  end  of  nineteen  days  after  the  horrible  massacre, 
the  news  was  brought  to  the  city  of  Nashville,  then  a  small 
place.  The  news  reached  Nashville  on  Saturday.  On  the 
same  day  a  public  meeting  was  held,  over  which  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Craighead,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  presided.  There 
was  but  one  sentiment  —  Tennesseans  are  soldiers.  All 
thoughts  were  at  once  turned  to  a  bed  of  suffering  only  a 
short  distance  away.  These  thoughts  were  laden  with 
expressions  of  regret  that  the  great  soldier,  from  recent  gun- 
shot wounds,  could  not  lead  the  brave  Tennesseans  to  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  117 

defense  of  the  helpless  people  in  the  territory,  and  our  own 
equally  helpless  people  on  the  frontiers.  But  a  committee 
was  appointed,  one  member  of  which  was  John  Coffee  — 
whom  Jackson  loved  and  had  a  right  to  love  above  all  other 
men  —  to  wait  on  and  confer  with  Governor  Blount ;  and 
the  committee  was  instructed  to  call  and  confer  with  General 
Jackson.  The  meeting  adjourned  to  meet  the  next  day, 
Sunday. 

The  committee  saw  the  Governor  and  General  Jackson, 
and  reported  that  the  Governor  was  taking  steps  to  have  the 
subject  brought  before  the  Legislature;  and  that  Jackson 
said  he  would  take  command  of  the  army,  and  had  issued 
the  address,  a  copy  of  which  was  reported,  and  which  is  as 
follows  : 

"The  horrid  butcheries  perpetrated  on  our  defenseless 
fellow  citizens  near  Fort  Stoddart  cannot  fail  to  excite  in 
every  bosom  a  spirit  of  revenge.  The  subjoined  letter  of 
our  worthy  Governor  shows  that  the  Federal  Government 
has  deposited  no  authority  in  this  quarter  to  afford  aid  to 
the  unhappy  sufferers.  It  is  wished  that  volunteers  should 
go  forward,  relying  on  the  justice  of  the  general  Govern- 
ment for  ultimate  remuneration.  It  surely  never  would  be 
said  that  the  brave  Tennesseans  wanted  other  inducements 
than  patriotism  and  humanity  to  rush  to  the  aid  of  their 
bleeding  neighbors,  their  friends  and  relations.  I  feel  con- 
fident that  dull  calculations  of  sneaking  prudence  will  not 
prevent  you  from  immediately  stepping  forth  on  this  occa- 
sion, so  worthy  the  arm  of  every  brave  soldier  and  good 
citizen.  I  regret  that  indisposition,  which,  from  present 
appearances,  is  not  likely  to  continue,  may  prevent  me  from 
leading  the  van;  but  indulge  the  grateful  hope  of  sharing 
with  you  the  dangers  and  glory  of  prostrating  those  hell- 
hounds, who  are  capable  of  such  barbarities.  In  the  mean- 
time, let  all  who  can  arm  themselves,  do  so,  and  hasten  to 
Fort  Stephens." 

Among  the  thousand  daring  incidents  in  the  life  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  nothing  excels  in  desperate  courage  this  act  of 


118  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

mandatory  force  over  himself.  The  day  fixed  for  assem- 
bling the  army  at  Fayetteville  was  the  4th  of  October,  just 
thirty  days  from  the  time  Jackson  was  shot  by  the  Bentons. 

When  the  committee  went  to  see  him,  his  surgeons  were 
there,  and  forbade  any  discussion  of  the  matter.  But  "Old 
Hickory"  had  a  way  of  rising  above  doctors  when  his  coun- 
try needed  him.  Sixteen  days  before  the  committee  saw 
him  he  had  been  so  badly  wounded  in  a  fight  with  Thomas 
and  Jesse  Benton  that  a  majority  of  his  physicians  decided 
to  take  off  his  arm.  His  condition  was  really  critical,  and 
gave  him  extreme  pain.  There,  perhaps,  never  lived  a  man, 
a  capable  officer,  who  would  have  undertaken  to  lead  an 
army  under  the  same  conditions.  Without  the  loss  of  a  day, 
he  managed,  through  the  Governor  and  General  Cocke,  who 
was  in  the  city,  to  have  an  order  for  supplies  to  be  sent  from 
East  Tennessee  down  the  river  to  meet  him  at  Ditto's 
Landing. 

On  the  25th  of  September  the  Legislature  passed  a  bill 
appropriating  $300,000  to  pay  and  feed  the  soldiers,  taking 
the  chance  of  being  reimbursed  by  the  general  Government ; 
and  in  a  few  days  General  Jackson  was  lifted  on  his  horse, 
with  his  arm  in  a  sling  and  his  shoulder  bandaged,  and  on 
the  /th  of  October  he  reached  Fayetteville,  a  distance  of 
nearly  one  hundred  miles,  and  took  command  of  his  army. 

Under  the  order  of  the  Governor,  3,500  men  were  called 
out  for  immediate  service  —  2,500  from  West  Tennessee 
(what  is  now  Middle  and  West  Tennessee)  under  General 
Jackson;  the  others  from  East  Tennessee  under  General 
Cocke. 

The  reader  will  see  —  get  a  good  look  at  this  remarkable 
man  —  his  alertness,  his  force  of  character,  when  I  recount 
that  he  was  shot  on  the  4th  of  September ;  it  was  on  the  ipth 
of  September  the  committee  took  him  out  of  the  hands  of  his 
surgeons,  and  when  the  Governor  ordered  him  to  take  com- 
mand of  the  army.  It  was  the  25th  of  September  when  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  119 

Legislature  authorized  3,500  men  to  be  called  out,  and 
appropriated  $300,000  to  back  up  the  call;  it  was  the  4th 
of  October  the  army  was  ordered  to  be  at  Fayetteville, 
Tennessee ;  it  was  the  /th  of  October  when  the  General  took 
command,  and  this  was  thirty-three  days  after  his  desperate 
fight  with  the  Bentons,  in  which  a  slug  from  the  pistol  of 
Jesse  Benton  had  crushed  through  one  shoulder,  and  with 
a  bullet  still  in  the  other  arm. 

This  was  not  all ;  but  at  the  time  the  committee  rescued 
him  from  his  surgeons  he  called  up  John  Coffee,  who  proved 
to  be  the  man  that  Providence  had  assigned  to  him  to  do  a 
great  work,  as  this  and  the  subsequent  campaigns  showed  — 
the  man  who  had  commanded  his  cavalry  in  the  Natchez 
campaign,  and  who  had  been  at  his  side  in  the  desperate  fight 
with  the  Bentons,  and  ordered  him  to  have  700  cavalry 
ready  for  the  service  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  These 
men  were  on  their  horses  and  ready  when  the  bill  passed  the 
Legislature,  the  25th  of  September.  General  Jackson 
ordered  Coffee  to  move  rapidly  into  the  Mississippi  Terri- 
tory, crossing  the  Tennessee  River,  and  as  quick  as  possible 
report  the  movement  of  the  Indians.  When  General  Jackson 
reached  Fayetteville,  on  the  7th  of  October,  Coffee,  with  his 
cavalry,  was  between  the  Tennessee  and  Coosa  Rivers,  had 
his  pickets  out,  and  on  the  nth  of  October  an  express  from 
Coffee  dashed  into  Fayetteville  and  announced  that  the 
Indians  in  two  large  bodies  were  moving  in  the  direction  of 
the  Tennessee  and  Georgia  frontiers. 

At  this  General  Jackson  was  pleased,  for  his  expeditious 
movements  had  been  made  with  the  view  of  a  forced  march 
to  Mobile,  to  save  the  helpless  people  there  from  the  fate 
which  had  come  to  the  women  and  children  at  Fort  Mimms. 
Jackson  immediately  issued  an  order  to  march  that  same 
day,  and  the  messenger  was  hurrying  back  to  Coffee  with  a 
letter,  saying  that  he  would  move  immediately :  "That  it  is 
highly  satisfactory  that  the  Creeks  are  so  attentive  to  my 


120  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

situation  as  to  save  me  the  pain  of  traveling ;  I  must  not  be 
outdone  in  politeness,  and  will,  therefore,  endeavor  to  meet 
them  on  the  middle  ground." 

This  express  messenger  reached  General  Jackson  on  the 
nth  of  October,  at  12  o'clock,  and  at  3  o'clock  the  whole 
army  was  moving,  and  at  8  o'clock  that  night  it  reached 
Huntsville,  a  distance  of  thirty-two  miles.  This  seems 
incredible,  but  it  is  authenticated.  Perhaps  none  but  an 
army  of  frontiersmen  could  have  done  it. 

This  wonderful  accomplishment  was  the  work  of  a  mind 
and  heart  deeply  touched  by  the  awful  butcheries  at  Fort 
Mimms.  It  proves  what  alert  sagacity  can  do  in  a  great 
emergency.  A  father  with  a  pardon  for  a  son  condemned 
to  die,  but  saved  if  100  miles  could  be  ridden  in  one  day, 
could  have  been  no  more  determined  to  accomplish  it  or  die, 
than  was  Jackson  to  protect  the  frontiers  and  save  the 
unarmed  and  helpless  people  in  the  territory  from  the  awful 
fate  that  awaited  them. 

Jackson  had  kept  up  with  Tecumseh's  war  in  the  West, 
and  from  the  day  he  got  out  of  bed  and  left  his  surgeons, 
express  messengers  and  flying  people  were  reaching  him 
and  praying  for  relief. 

This  chapter  is  the  opening  —  the  unfolding  —  of  a  period 
in  American  history  that  is  laden  with  thrilling  incidents  and 
known  as  the  "Jacksonian  Period,"  generally  by  writers  sup- 
posed to  include  Jackson's  presidential  terms  from  1829  to 
1837.  But  the  Jacksonian  period  begins  with  Jackson 
getting  out  of  bed  on  the  iQth  of  September,  1813,  and  not 
ending  when  he  left  the  White  House  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1837,  but  ending  when  he  died,  1845;  f°r  when  he  went 
out  of  office  he  left  Mr.  VanBuren  in  the  presidential  chair, 
whom  he  had  undoubtedly  put  there ;  and  when  he  died  in 
1845,  Mr.  Polk  was  President,  who  had  undoubtedly  been 
elected  by  the  influence  and  name  of  General  Jackson. 

Prejudice  and  passion  have  prescribed  bounds,  and  put 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  121 

limitations  on  the  capacity  and  public  service  of  this  won- 
derful man;  but  he  came  like  a  great  meteor  from  another 
planet,  and  when  he  struck  the  earth  he  made  his  own  marks, 
that  will  not  be  effaced  until  civilization  turns  back  to  wipe 
out  landmarks. 

Whoever  gets  the  facts  of  this  chapter  in  his  head,  and 
then  carefully  reads  the  entire  history  of  the  Creek  cam- 
paign, will  be  prepared  to  appreciate  what  Lord  Wellington 
said  to  Major  Donalson  at  a  dinner  table  in  London,  when 
the  latter  was  on  his  way  as  Minister  to  Berlin,  to  wit: 
"That  he  had  carefully  read  the  history  of  General  Jackson's 
Creek  Campaign;  and  if  he  had  never  done  anything  else, 
this  would  have  made  Jackson  one  of  the  great  generals  of 
the  world." 


122  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  IX. 

JACKSON'S  CLOSE  TOUCH  WITH  HIS  MEN  —  ISSUES  MOST 

EXTRAORDINARY  ORDERS  TO  ARMY CORRESPONDENCE 

WITH   OFFICERS JACKSON^S   DISPATCH    CONCERNING 

SITUATION    IN    INDIAN    STRONGHOLD KINDNESS    TO 

THE  POOR  FAMISHED  INDIANS. 

PERHAPS  no  general,  not  even  Napoleon,  ever  kept 
himself  in  touch  with  his  army  as  Jackson  did. 
Like  Julius  Caesar,  he  kept  no  secrets;    at  short 
intervals  he  issued  spirited  addresses,  and  had  them  read  to 
the  army.      Before  leaving  Fayetteville  he  issued  and  had 
read  the  following  address : 

"We  are  about  to  furnish  these  savages  a  lesson  of  admo- 
nition ;  we  are  about  to  teach  them  that  our  long  forbearance 
has  not  proceeded  from  an  insensibility  to  wrongs,  or  an 
inability  to  redress  them.  They  stand  in  need  of  such 
warning.  In  proportion  as  we  have  borne  with  their  insults 
and  submitted  to  their  outrages,  they  have  multiplied  in 
number  and  increased  in  atrocity.  But  the  measure  of  their 
offenses  is  at  length  filled.  The  blood  of  our  women  and 
children  recently  spilled  at  Fort  Mimms  calls  for  our  ven- 
geance ;  it  must  not  call  in  vain.  Our  borders  must  be  no 
longer  disturbed  by  the  warwhoop  of  these  savages  and  the 
cries  of  their  suffering  victims.  The  torch  that  has  been 
lighted  up  must  be  made  to  blaze  in  the  heart  of  their  own 
country.  It  is  time  they  should  be  made  to  feel  the  weight 
of  a  power  which,  because  it  was  merciful,  they  believed  to 
be  impotent.  But  how  shall  a  war  so  long  forborne  and  so 
loudly  called  for  by  retributive  justice  be  waged?  Shall 
we  imitate  the  examples  of  our  enemies  in  the  disorder  of 
our  movement  and  the  savageness  of  their  disposition?  Is 
it  worthy  the  character  of  American  soldiers,  who  take  up 
arms  to  redress  the  wrongs  of  an  injured  country,  to  assume 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  123 

no  better  models  than  those  furnished  them  by  barbarians? 
No,  fellow  soldiers ;  great  as  are  the  grievances  that  have 
called  us  from  our  home,  we  must  not  permit  disorderly 
passions  to  tarnish  the  reputations  we  shall  carry  along  with 
us.  We  must  and  will  be  victorious ;  but  we  must  conquer 
as  men  who  owe  nothing  to  chance,  and  who,  in  the  midst  of 
victory,  can  still  be  mindful  of  what  is  due  to  humanity. 

"We  will  commence  the  campaign  by  an  inviolable  atten- 
tion to  discipline  and  subordination.  Without  a  strict 
observance  of  these,  victory  must  ever  be  uncertain,  and 
ought  hardly  be  exulted  in,  even  when  gained.  To  what 
but  the  entire  disregard  of  order  and  subordination  are  we 
to  ascribe  the  disasters  which  have  attended  our  arms  in  the 
North  during  the  present  war  ?  How  glorious  will  it  be  to 
remove  the  blots  which  have  tarnished  the  fair  character 
bequeathed  us  by  the  fathers  of  our  revolution  ?  The  bosom 
of  your  General  is  full  of  hope.  He  knows  the  ardor  which 
animated  you,  and  already  exults  in  the  triumph  which  your 
strict  observance  of  discipline  and  good  order  will  render 
certain." 

Was  any  order  ever  issued  by  the  commander  of  an  army 
to  his  soldiers  that  excels  this?  But  to  this  day  this  great 
American  soldier  is  only  an  "ignorant  backwoodsman." 

Reaching  Huntsville,  Jackson  found  the  news  of  the  near 
approach  of  the  Indians  had  been  exaggerated,  and  the  next 
day  he  marched  leisurely  to  the  Tennessee  River  and  crossed, 
coming  up  with  Colonel  Coffee. 

Under  orders  from  the  Governor,  and  by  an  agreement 
with  General  Cocke,  the  supplies  to  feed  the  army  were  to 
be  sent  down  the  river  to  meet  the  moving  army  at  Ditto's 
Landing,  ten  miles  south  of  Huntsville.  But  putting  the 
failure  on  low  water,  General  Cocke  and  his  contractors  had 
failed  to  have  the  supplies,  and  General  Jackson  found  him- 
self in  the  Indian's  country,  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and 
entirely  beyond  the  settlements,  hemmed  in  by  rough  moun- 
tains, no  roads,  with  2,500  men  and  1,300  horses  to  be  fed, 
with  less  than  five  days'  rations.  While  the  river  at  this 


124  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

point  was  a  beautiful  and  large  stream,  and  apparently 
showed  sufficient  water  for  boats,  yet  it  was  soon  found 
that  the  supplies  from  East  Tennessee,  expected,  could  not 
be  depended  upon.  The  question  at  once  arose  of  moving 
the  army  back  where  it  could  be  fed.  To  this  General  Jack- 
son refused  to  listen.  Cutting  a  road  through  the  mountains 
up  the  river,  he  moved  up  to  Thompson's  Creek,  twenty-two 
miles,  to  the  place  which  is  now  known  as  Fort  Deposit, 
hoping  to  there  meet  his  supplies  coming  down  the  river,  or 
hear  something  of  them. 

On  reaching  the  mouth  of  Thompson's  Creek,  cutting  his 
road  and  climbing  mountains,  which  his  private  secretary, 
John  Reed,  in  a  letter  to  the  quartermaster,  William  B. 
Lewis,  whom  the  General  had  sent  back  to  Nashville  to  see 
what  could  be  done  there,  well  describes  the  situation.  It 
was  written  after  all  hopes  of  getting  supplies  were  gone, 
and  when  the  army,  without  anything  to  subsist  on,  was 
about  moving.  The  letter  was  as  follows : 

"CAMP  DEPOSIT,  on  Thompson's  Creek, 

"October  24,  1813. 
"Major  Lewis: 

"DEAR  SIR  :  —  We  have  cut  our  way  over  mountains 
more  tremendous  than  the  Alps,  and  today  we  ascend  others. 
At  this  place  we  have  remained  a  day  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  depot  for  provisions ;  but  where  those  provis- 
ions are  to  come  from,  or  when  they  are  to  arrive,  God 
Almighty  only  knows.  We  had  expected  supplies  from 
East  Tennessee,  but  they  have  not  arrived,  and  I  am  fearful 
they  never  will.  I  speak  seriously  when  I  declare  I  expect 
we  shall  soon  have  to  eat  our  horses,  and  perhaps  this  is  the 
best  use  we  can  put  a  great  many  of  them  to. 

"The  hostile  Creeks,  as  we  learned  yesterday,  from  the 
Pathkiller,  are  assembling  in  great  numbers  within  fifteen 
miles  from  Turkey  Town.  Chenully,  who  is  posted  with 
the  friendly  Creeks  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  place,  it  is 
feared  will  be  destroyed  before  we  can  arrive  to  their  relief. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  125 

In  three  days  we  shall  probably  have  a  fight.     The  General 
swears  he  will  neither  sound  a  retreat  nor  survive  a  defeat. 

"General  White,  of  the  East  Tennessee  Militia,  has  not 
yet  joined  us,  nor  has  Colonel  Coffee  returned,  who  was 
despatched  before  you  left  us ;  but  we  understand  that  Coffee 
lay  within  ten  miles  of  us  last  night,  and  will  be  up  by  12 
o'clock.  He  saw  no  Indians,  but  burned  some  towns. 

"General  White,  with  the  advance  division,  consisting 
perhaps  of  a  thousand,  arrived  near  a  week  ago  at  the  foot 
of  Lookout  Mountain,  and  will  probably  form  a  junction 
with  us  in  a  few  days,  if  our  movements  should  not  be  too 
speedy  for  him.  We,  however,  have  been  greatly  delayed 
by  the  irregularity  and  scarcity  of  our  supplies,  and  the 
ruggedness  of  the  mountains  over  which  we  have  had  to 
pass.  And  the  same  causes  will,  no  doubt,  continue  to 
impede  our  progress. 

"We  are  distant  from  the  Ten  Islands  about  fifty  miles 
by  the  nearest  route,  for  which  place  we  shall  recommence 
our  march  in  the  evening,  leaving  Turkey  Town  and  Che- 
nully  Fort  to  the  left,  unless  we  should  find  it  necessary  to 
go  to  them  for  their  relief. 

"We  shall  leave  this  place  with  less  than  two  days'  supply 
of  provisions.  Adieu.  Write  me  if  you  have  an  opportu- 
nity. I  am  in  a  great  hurry.  Farewell  again. 

"JOHN  REID." 

Before  leaving  Ditto's  Landing,  Jackson  had  not  only  sent 
Major  Lewis  back  to  Nashville  to  forward  supplies  in 
wagons,  but  he  had  sent  General  Coffee  with  his  cavalry  out 
in  the  Indian  country  to  destroy  their  towns  and  gather  any 
supplies  he  could.  He  wrote  letters  to  General  Cocke  and 
to  Judge  Hugh  L.  White,  and  to  the  Governor  of  Tennessee, 
making  most  earnest  appeals  for  supplies.  Most  men  would 
have  turned  back  and  gone  where  he  could  feed  his  army, 
but  Jackson  not  for  a  moment  listened  to  such  a  suggestion. 
All  his  letters  were  in  substance : 

"Give  me  provisions  and  I  will  end  this  war  in  a  month." 
"There  is  an  enemy,"  he  wrote,  "whom  I  dread  much  more 
than  I  do  the  hostile  Creeks,  and  whose  power  I  am  fearful 


126  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

I  shall  first  be  made  to  feel  —  I  mean  the  meagre  monster, 
Famine.  I  shall  leave  this  encampment  in  the  morning 
direct  for  the  Ten  Islands,  and  thence,  with  as  little  delay  as 
possible,  to  the  junction  of  the  Coosa  and  Tallapoosa.  And 
yet,  I  have  not  on  hand  two  days'  supply  of  breadstuff s." 

Before  leaving  Deposit,  General  Jackson  wrote  and  caused 
to  be  read  to  the  army  an  order  —  in  truth,  an  address  — 
complimenting  the  soldiers  for  the  fortitude  and  sacrifice 
under  which  they  were  discharging  their  duties  as  officers. 
Among  other  things,  he  said : 

"You  have,  fellow  soldiers,  at  length  penetrated  the 
country  of  your  enemies.  It  is  not  to  be  believed  that  they 
will  abandon  the  soil  that  embosoms  the  bones  of  their  fore- 
fathers without  furnishing  you  an  opportunity  of  signalizing 
your  valor.  Wise  men  do  not  expect;  brave  men  do  not 
desire  it.  It  was  not  to  travel  unmolested  through  a  barren 
wilderness  that  you  quitted  your  families  and  homes,  and 
submitted  to  so  many  privations;  it  was  to  avenge  the 
cruelties  committed  upon  your  defenseless  frontiers  by  the 
inhuman  Creeks,  instigated  by  their  no  less  inhuman  allies ; 
you  shall  not  be  disappointed.  If  the  enemy  flees  before  us, 
we  will  overtake  and  chastise  him ;  we  will  teach  him  how 
dreadful,  when  once  aroused,  is  the  resentment  of  freemen." 

The  reader  who  knows  not  the  country  will  never  realize 
the  hardihood  of  Jackson's  march  —  road-making,  rather  — 
from  Fort  Deposit  to  the  Ten  Islands,  on  the  Coosa  River ; 
it  was  across  the  Sand  Mountain,  one  of  the  roughest  and 
most  forbidding  mountains  in  the  South;  there  were  no 
roads  and  the  country  was  entirely  uninhabited.  While  the 
country  was  still  new,  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  the  writer 
of  these  memoirs  crossed  this  mountain  over  the  Jackson 
trace,  and  at  that  time  to  take  a  loaded  wagon  up  and  down 
the  mountain  was  the  dread  of  a  journey  from  Tennessee 
to  the  South. 

Jackson  left  Deposit  on  the  25th  of  October,  depending 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  127 

on  the  wild  woods  for  something  to  feed  his  army.  For 
nine  days  the  bulk  of  the  army  was  cutting  down  trees  and 
digging  up  stumps  to  make  a  road;  the  balance  were  out 
destroying  Indian  towns,  getting  everything  they  could  find, 
and  hunting  wild  game  to  prevent  starvation. 

Coffee  reported  that  the  Indians  in  large  numbers  had 
collected  at  the  Ten  Islands,  on  the  Coosa  River,  an  Indian 
town  called  Talleesehatchie,  and  in  nine  days  after  leaving 
Deposit,  Jackson's  army  was  within  ten  miles  of  this  body 
of  Indians.  He  ordered  Coffee,  who  had  been  made  a  brig- 
adier general,  to  take  a  part  of  his  command  and  bring  on 
the  fight. 

It  was  on  the  evening  of  the  2d  of  November  that  this 
order  was  made  on  General  Coffee,  and  at  sunrise  the  next 
day  Coffee  was  bringing  on  the  fight.  Coffee  lost  forty-six 
men  killed  and  wounded.  The  Indians,  under  the  teach- 
ing of  Tecumseh,  fought  with  religious  fury.  In  the  hottest 
of  the  fight  one  of  their  prophets  climbed  upon  a  cabin  and 
stood  out  in  full  view;  defying  the  white  man's  bullets,  and 
showing  the  warriors  how  the  Great  Spirit  protected  him. 
Soon  he  tumbled  off,  but  the  warriors  stood  their  ground 
and  fought  bravely  until  the  last  man  was  killed.  Not  one 
asked  quarter;  not  one  was  left  alive.  One  hundred  and 
eighty-six  lay  dead  on  the  battlefield.  Eighty-four  women 
and  children  were  taken  prisoners  and  brought  to  the  Gen- 
eral's headquarters. 

Two  things  conspired  to  make  this  the  single  exception  in 
American  battles  —  every  man  on  one  side  being  killed. 
One  was,  the  Indians  commenced  the  war  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  their  prophets  —  that  they  must  neither  ask  nor  give 
quarter,  and  the  belief  on  the  part  of  General  Jackson  and 
his  entire  army  that  nothing  short  of  such  a  lesson  would 
cool  the  frenzy  of  the  war  spirit  and  the  hellish  purpose  of 
recovering  their  lost  country  by  killing  all  the  white  people, 
the  child  at  the  mother's  breast. 


128  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

The  report  of  General  Jackson,  made  to  Governor  Blount, 
is  as  follows : 

"We  have  retaliated  for  the  destruction  of  Fort  Mimms. 
On  the  2d  I  detached  General  Coffee  with  a  part  of  his 
brigade  of  cavalry  and  mounted  riflemen  to  destroy  Tallee- 
sehatchie,  where  a  considerable  force  of  the  hostile  Creeks 
had  concentrated.  The  General  executed  this  in  style. 
One  hundred  and  eighty-six  of  the  enemy  were  found  dead 
on  the  field,  and  about  eighty  prisoners  taken,  forty  of  whom 
have  been  brought  here.  In  the  numbers  left  there  is  a 
sufficiency,  but  slightly  wounded,  to  take  care  of  those  who 
are  badly.  I  have  to  regret  that  five  of  my  brave  soldiers 
have  been  killed,  and  about  thirty  wounded;  some  badly, 
but  none,  I  hope,  mortally.  Both  officers  and  men  behaved 
with  the  utmost  bravery  and  deliberation.  Captains  Smith, 
Bradley  and  Winston  are  wounded,  all  slightly.  No  officer 
is  killed.  So  soon  as  General  Coffee  makes  his  report,  I 
shall  enclose  it.  If  we  had  a  sufficient  supply  of  provisions, 
should,  in  a  short  time,  accomplish  the  object  of  our 
expedition." 

The  women  and  children  taken  and  brought  in  were  sent 
to  the  white  settlements  and  cared  for.  General  Coffee,  in 
his  report  to  General  Jackson,  expressed  his  deep  regrets' 
that  in  the  Talleesehatchie  battle,  where  the  Indians  fought 
from  their  houses,  a  few  women  had  been  unavoidably 
killed,  and  from  the  arms  of  one  of  the  dead  women  a  little 
child  had  been  taken,  which  was  brought  into  camp.  (This 
was  Lincoyer,  described  in  a  former  chapter.) 

On  the  7th  of  November,  four  days  after  the  battle,  Gen- 
eral Jackson  was  notified  by  an  escaped  friendly  Indian  of 
a  large  body  of  Indians  at  Talledega,  thirty  miles  away; 
that  there  were  154  friendly  Indians  in  a  fort  at  that  place, 
and  that  they  were  literally  starving  and  without  a  drop  of 
water,  and  would  certainly  all  be  killed  by  the  infuriated 
hostiles,  who  were  dancing  around  the  prisoners,  making 
merry  over  the  coming  slaughter. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  129 

General  Jackson  had  spent  the  four  days  in  improvising  a 
fort  for  his  sick  and  wounded,  of  which  he  had  quite  a  large 
number.  He  was  literally  without  supplies  of  any  kind,  and 
his  men  were  almost  frenzied  with  hunger.  At  this  point, 
General  White,  under  Major  General  Cocke,  with  a  com- 
mand, reached  the  vicinity,  having  come  from  the  Georgia 
frontiers,  and  sent  an  express  to  General  Jackson  that  he 
would  join  him  next  day,  and  that  he  had  some  supplies. 
This  greatly  relieved  General  Jackson,  and  having  General 
White's  promise  to  protect  his  sick  and  wounded  in  the 
improvised  fort,  known  ever  since  as  Fort  Strother,  he 
moved  his  army  at  once,  crossing  the  river  at  night,  and  the 
next  day,  the  8th  of  November,  he  was  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Talladega,  and  at  daylight  on  the  Qth  attacked  the  Indians 
1,000  strong;  and  this  is  the  way  General  Jackson,  in  his 
dispatch  to  the  Governor,  tells  the  story  of  the  battle : 

"At  sunrise,"  said  the  General  in  his  dispatch,  "we  came 
within  half  a  mile  of  them,  and,  having  formed  my  men,  I 
moved  on  in  battle  order.  The  infantry  were  in  three  lines, 
the  militia  on  the  left  and  the  volunteers  on  the  right.  The 
cavalry  formed  the  two  extreme  wings,  and  were  ordered 
to  advance  in  a  curve,  keeping  their  rear  connected  with  the 
advance  of  their  infantry  lines,  and  enclose  the  enemy  in  a 
circle.  The  advanced  guard,  whom  I  sent  on  to  bring  on 
the  engagement,  met  the  attack  of  the  enemy  with  great 
intrepidity;  and  having  poured  upon  them  four  or  five 
very  gallant  rounds,  fell  back,  as  they  had  been  previously 
ordered,  to  the  main  army.  The  enemy  pursued,  and  the 
front  line  was  now  ordered  to  meet  them;  but  owing  to 
some  misunderstanding,  a  few  companies  of  militia,  who 
composed  a  part  of  it,  commenced  a  retreat.  At  this 
moment  a  corps  of  cavalry,  commanded  by  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Dyer,  which  I  had  kept  as  a  reserve,  was  ordered  to 
dismount  and  fill  up  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  retreat. 
This  order  was  executed  with  great  promptitude  and  effect. 
The  militia,  seeing  this,  speedily  rallied ;  and  the  fire  became 
general  along  the  front  line,  and  on  that  part  of  the  wings 


130  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

which  were  contiguous.  The  enemy,  unable  to  stand  it, 
began  to  retreat,  but  were  met  at  every  turn  and  repulsed  in 
every  direction.  The  right  wing  chased  them,  with  a  most 
destructive  fire,  to  the  mountains,  a  distance  of  about  three 
miles,  and  had  I  not  been  compelled  by  the  faux  pas  of  the 
militia  in  the  outset  of  the  battle  to  dismount  my  reserve,  I 
believe  not  a  man  of  them  would  have  escaped.  The  victory, 
however,  was  very  decisive.  Two  hundred  and  ninety  of 
the  enemy  were  left  dead,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that 
many  more  were  killed  who  were  not  found.  Wherever 
they  ran  they  left  behind  traces  of  blood,  and  it  is  believed 
very  few  will  return  to  their  villages  in  as  sound  condition 
as  they  left  them.  In  the  engagement  we  lost  fifteen  killed 
and  eighty-five  wounded ;  two  of  these  have  since  died.  All 
the  officers  acted  with  utmost  bravery,  and  so  did  all  the 
privates,  except  that  part  of  the  militia  who  retreated  at  the 
commencement  of  the  battle,  and  they  hastened  to  atone  for 
their  error.  Taking  the  whole  together,  they  have  realized 
the  high  expectations  I  have  formed  of  them,  and  have  fairly 
entitled  themselves  to  the  gratitude  of  their  country." 

The  happiness  and  joy  of  the  poor  friendly  Indians,  when 
they  found  that  they  had  been  saved  from  the  horrible  tor- 
tures that  awaited  them  —  having  been  several  days  without 
bread  or  water  —  was  a  scene,  as  the  soldiers  who  witnessed 
it  relate,  that  can  never  be  told. 

Just  before  the  battle  was  fought,  General  Jackson 
received  a  dispatch  from  General  White  to  the  effect  that  he 
could  not,  as  he  had  promised,  proceed  to  Fort  Strother  and 
protect  the  sick  and  wounded  —  that  General  Cocke  had 
ordered  him  back.  This  created  in  General  Jackson's  mind 
intense  anxiety,  such  was  the  uncertainty  as  to  the  move- 
ments of  the  Indians,  and  such  their  alertness  when  they  did 
move,  and  it  being  known  that  a  large  force  was  out  on  the 
move,  besides  those  he  was  dealing  with,  that  he  feared  the 
worst ;  but  he  decided  to  expedite  his  campaign  as  laid  out, 
and  return  to  Fort  Strother  with  all  possible  dispatch. 
Having  gained  this  signal  victory  and  buried  his  dead,  he 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  131 

made  a  forced  march  and  reached  Fort  Strother  to  find  the 
enemy,  which  he  dreaded  more  than  the  Indians — starvation. 

The  return  to  Fort  Strother  was  the  beginning  of  a  series 
of  conflicts  which,  in  my  opinion,  no  other  man  but  General 
Jackson  would  have  triumphed  over.  General  Jackson's 
powers  were  never  tested,  and  his  heroism  never  shone  as 
in  the  ten  weeks  after  the  Battle  of  Talladega.  General 
White  having  disappointed  him  and  returned  under  orders 
of  General  Cocke,  when  he,  Jackson,  came  back  to  Fort 
Strother,  he  found  the  sick  and  wounded  and  the  guards  he 
had  left  literally  starving.  The  army  that  he  had  led  to 
Talladega,  fighting  that  sanguinary  battle,  burying  the  dead 
and  making  a  forced  march  back,  had  been,  during  the  entire 
campaign,  without  supplies,  except  a  few  bushels  of  corn 
which  they  found  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians  at  Talladega. 

Literally  starving  himself,  General  Jackson  devoted  him- 
self to  letter  writing,  imploring  the  Governor,  contractors, 
friends,  to  save  his  army  from  starvation.  Here  is  a  sample 
of  these  letters : 

"I  have  been  compelled,"  he  wrote  to  a  contractor  a  few 
days  after  Talladega,  "to  return  here  for  the  want  of  sup- 
plies, when  I  could  have  completed  the  destruction  of  the 
enemy  in  ten  days ;  and  on  my  arrival  I  find  those  I  had  left 
behind  in  the  same  starving  condition  with  those  who  accom- 
panied me.  For  God's  sake,  send  me,  with  all  despatch, 
plentiful  supplies  of  bread  and  meat.  We  have  been  starv- 
ing for  several  days,  and  it  will  not  do  to  continue  so  much 
longer.  Hire  wagons  and  purchase  supplies  at  any  price 
rather  than  defeat  the  expedition.  General  White,  instead 
of  forming  a  junction  with  me,  as  he  assured  me  he  would, 
has  taken  the  retrograde  motion,  after  amusing  himself  with 
consuming  provisions  for  three  weeks  in  the  Cherokee 
Nation,  and  left  me  to  rely  on  my  own  strength." 

These  letters  were  sent  by  express  messengers,  and  occa- 
sionally, at  long  intervals,  scant  supplies  would  come. 


132  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Whatever  of  bread  and  meat  was  obtained  was  given  to  the 
soldiers,  for  Jackson  realized  that  the  bravest  man  in  the 
world  could  not  be  kept  in  the  field  if  a  famine  lasted  many 
days. 

Marshall  McMahon  said  after  one  of  the  Italian  battles : 

"Few  men  know  how  important  it  is  in  war  for  soldiers 
not  to  be  kept  waiting  for  their  rations." 

And  Napoleon  said,  on  being  asked  what  a  soldier  needed 
most :  "A  full  belly  and  a  good  pair  of  shoes." 

Jackson's  force  consisted  of  two  kinds  of  troops  —  militia 
and  volunteers.  In  this  starving  condition  the  first  signs  of 
mutiny  were  seen  with  the  militia.  The  volunteers  were 
literally  crying  for  something  to  eat,  but  their  pride  held 
them  true  to  the  cause  after  the  militia  in  bodies  were  threat- 
ening to  leave.  The  mutiny  began  in  talks  around  their 
camp  fires,  where  the  soldiers  discussed  the  policy  of  return- 
ing to  the  settlements  where  they  could  be  fed,  as  the  army 
could  not  move  on  the  enemy  without  supplies.  Finally, 
the  militia,  after  ten  days  of  gnawing  hunger,  in  a  body, 
resolved,  without  the  General's  consent,  to  go  back  to  the 
settlements. 

Jackson  heard  of  it  the  morning  the  movement  began,  and 
they  found  him  at  the  head  of  his  volunteers  with  orders  to 
stop  the  militia,  peacefully  if  they  could,  forcibly  if  they 
must.  It  was  a  trying  moment ;  the  militia  wavered,  then 
returned  to  the  camp. 

Probably  the  starving  volunteers  regretted  the  failure  of 
the  militia,  for  night  did  not  come  until  they  had  resolved  to 
go,  and  actually  moved  off  in  a  body,  to  find  Jackson  at  the 
head  of  the  militia,  blocking  their  path  and  commanding  his 
troops  to  march  the  volunteers  back  to  camp.  The  scene 
was  as  ludicrous  as  it  was  daring,  and  the  volunteers  in 
sullen  silence  returned  to  the  camp. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  133 

The  cavalry  under  Coffee  had  been  sent  back  to  Huntsville 
to  recruit  their  horses,  which,  if  possible,  were  in  worse 
condition  than  the  men.  Jackson  now  had  one  thousand 
men  remaining  with  him  in  the  wilderness,  not  knowing  how 
they  were  to  live. 

The  Tennessee  press  shortly  afterward  was  full  of  a 
dinner  which  it  was  said  Jackson  gave  his  officers;  coolly, 
after  the  officers  had  taken  their  seats,  pouring  out  on  the 
table  a  tin  cupful  of  acorns,  with  an  apology,  and  an  assur- 
ance that  he  hoped  to  have  scalybarks  in  a  week  or  so. 
Day  by  day  the  condition  grew  worse,  and  General  Jackson, 
in  person,  read  to  the  army  the  following  address : 

"What,"  he  asked,  "is  the  present  situation  of  our  camp? 
A  number  of  our  fellow  soldiers  are  wounded  and  unable  to 
help  themselves.  Shall  it  be  said  that  we  are  so  lost  to 
humanity  as  to  leave  them  in  this  condition?  Can  anyone 
under  these  circumstances,  and  under  these  prospects,  con- 
sent to  an  abandonment  of  our  camp  ?  Of  all  that  we  have 
acquired  in  the  midst  of  so  many  difficulties,  privations  and 
dangers ;  what  it  will  cost  us  so  much  to  regain ;  of  what 
we  never  can  regain  —  our  brave,  wounded  companions, 
who  will  be  murdered  by  our  unthinking,  unfeeling  inhu- 
manity ?  Surely  there  can  be  none  such.  No,  we  will  take 
with  us  when  we  go  our  wounded  and  sick.  They  must  not, 
shall  not,  perish  by  our  cold-blooded  indifference.  But  why 
should  you  despond  ?  I  do  not ;  and  yet  your  wants  are  no 
greater  than  mine.  To  be  sure  we  do  not  live  sumptuously ; 
but  no  one  has  died  of  hunger  or  is  likely  to  die;  and  then 
how  animating  are  our  prospects.  Large  supplies  are  at 
Deposit,  and  already  are  officers  dispatched  to  hasten  them 
on.  Wagons  are  on  the  way.  A  large  number  of  beeves 
are  in  the  neighborhood,  and  detachments  are  out  to  bring 
them  in.  All  these  resources  cannot  fail.  I  have  no  wish 
to  starve  you  —  none  to  deceive  you.  Stay  contentedly; 
and  if  supplies  do  not  arrive  in  two  days,  we  will  all  march 
back  together,  and  throw  the  blame  of  our  failure  where  it 
should  properly  lie ;  until  then  we  certainly  have  the  means 
of  subsisting;  and  if  we  are  compelled  to  bear  privations, 


134  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

let  us  remember  that  they  are  borne  for  our  country,  and  are 
not  greater  than  many,  perhaps  most,  armies  have  been 
compelled  to  endure.  I  have  called  you  together  to  tell  you 
my  feelings  and  my  wishes;  this  evening  think  on  them 
seriously,  and  let  me  know  yours  in  the  morning." 

Upon  consultation,  the  officers  of  the  volunteer  regiments 
returned  to  General  Jackson  and  told  him  that  the  men  could 
not  be  kept  even  for  the  two  days ;  but  the  militia  officers 
said  their  men  would  remain  and  see  if  the  supplies  came. 

Thereupon  General  Jackson  ordered  one  regiment  of  vol- 
unteers to  meet  the  provisions,  while  the  other  regiment  of 
volunteers,  shamed  by  the  course  of  the  militia,  agreed  to 
stay.  The  starving  men  remained  the  two  days  —  militia 
and  volunteers  —  but  the  provisions  not  coming,  Jackson 
found  himself  caught  in  his  own  trap,  and,  overburdened 
with  despondency,  he  threw  up  his  hands  and  said,  "If  only 
two  men  will  stay  with  me,  I  will  stay  and  die  in  the  wilder- 
ness." Captain  Thomas  Kennedy  Gordon  stepped  out  and 
said :  "General,  I'll  stay  with  you  and  die  with  you  in  the 
wilderness."  Then  Gordon  turned  in  among  the  men  look- 
ing for  volunteers,  and  one  hundred  and  nine  men  pledged 
themselves  to  the  General  to  stay  with  him.  Thereupon 
Jackson  stipulated  with  the  army  that  he  would  take  his  one 
hundred  and  nine  men  and  proceed  with  them  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Deposit,  and  if  the  supplies  were  met  they  should  all 
return  and  finish  the  campaign. 

Jackson's  intense  anxiety  came  from  a  knowledge  of  the 
fact  that  a  very  large  force  of  the  Creek  warriors  were 
assembling  at  a  point  further  south,  threatening  vengeance 
to  the  frontier  settlements,  and  which  he  felt  sure  had  to  be 
destroyed  if  the  women  and  children  were  to  be  saved.  So 
Jackson,  upon  this  bargain,  with  his  staff  and  one  hundred 
and  nine  men  at  the  head  of  the  army  —  all  hungry  and 
haggard  —  moved  off  on  the  road  to  Deposit.  In  the 
course  of  the  day  the  army  met  the  supplies  —  one  hundred 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  135 

«v 

and  fifty  beeves  and  other  supplies.  The  command  was, 
"Halt,  kill  and  eat" 

In  short  order  many  beeves  were  killed  and  cooked,  and 
the  soldiers'  gnawing  hunger  was  satisfied. 

Then  came  a  scene  that  will  never  be  put  on  paper. 
Having  started  home,  thinking  of  wife  and  children  — 
maybe  they  were  without  bread  —  thinking  of  their  own 
suffering  for  the  past  weeks,  and  of  entering  upon  another 
campaign  in  the  wilderness,  when  they  would  soon  again  be 
beyond  the  reach  of  supplies  from  home,  as  if  an  evil  spirit 
had  come  in  and  beguiled  the  whole  army  into  disobedience 
—  actual  mutiny.  It  was  the  work  of  an  hour  and  the 
army  was  in  a  state  of  mutiny;  many  of  the  officers  gave 
their  consent  to  support  and  aid  the  mutinous  spirit.  An 
argument  that  had  been  hinted  was  now  openly  made  —  that 
their  term  would  soon  expire,  certainly  before  another  cam- 
paign could  be  made.  This  was  all  done  so  quickly  that  the 
General  knew  nothing  about  it  until  one  regiment  had  moved 
off,  the  others  preparing  to  follow. 

When  the  General  got  the  news  his  rage  amounted  to  a 
cyclone  in  the  wilderness  —  he  was  simply  an  organized 
fury.  They  were  not  only  soldiers  under  him,  but  he  had  as 
a  last  resort  —  for  the  time  —  surrendered  his  authority 
and  contracted  with  the  army  that,  if  they  met  the  supplies 
and  their  hunger  was  appeased,  they  would  return  and 
follow  him  until  the  Creek  army  was  destroyed  and  the 
frontiers  protected.  He  had  kept  his  part  of  the  contract. 
If  there  was,  with  General  Jackson,  anything  in  the  world 
that,  in  sacredness,  equaled  the  obligation  of  the  soldier,  it 
was  the  fulfillment  of  a  contract.  His  whole  life,  as  a  mer- 
chant, as  a  business  man,  his  contracts  were  absolutely  invio- 
lable —  they  were  kept,  no  matter  what  it  cost.  But  with 
his  soldiers  now,  the  mutiny  when  they  were  not  hungry, 
and  the  breach  of  a  contract  which  they  had  solemnly  made, 
put  him  where  he  would  have  fought  a  den  of  wildcats.  So, 


136  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

when  he  found  that  one  regiment  had  moved  off,  and  others 
were  following,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  galloped  down 
the  road,  followed  by  a  few  trusties,  and  making  a  detour 
he  was  soon  ahead  of  the  moving  regiment.  To  his  delight 
he  met  his  "old  reliable,"  General  Coffee,  returning.  Rely- 
ing on  nobody,  giving  no  orders,  he  seized  an  old  musket, 
rode  back  until  he  met  the  deserters  —  as  he  called  them  — 
and  facing  them  with  a  fury  that  was  as  majestic  as  a  rising 
storm,  with  one  arm  still  in  a  sling,  he  laid  his  gun  across 
his  disabled  arm  and  swore  by  the  "Almighty"  that  he 
would  shoot  the  first  man  that  passed  him.  General  Coffee 
rushed  to  his  side;  the  soldiers  wavered;  then  took  up  the 
line  of  march  for  Fort  Strother.  Sending  Coffee  at  the 
head  of  the  army  back,  he  turned  his  face  to  Fort  Deposit, 
and  from  that  point  in  communication  with  Major  Lewis, 
the  Governor  and  the  friends  at  home,  he  was  soon  in  con- 
dition to  feed  his  army  and  move  on  to  the  Fort  Mimms 
murderers,  who  were  assembling  in  large  numbers  at 
Emuckfau  and  the  Horse  Shoe. 

General  Jackson's  worth  can  be  known,  his  faults  con- 
doned, and  the  maligners  of  his  character  estimated,  only 
when  what  he  did  for  his  country,  and  under  what  circum- 
stances, are  fully  realized. 

A  revelation  of  the  preparations  being  made  by  England 
as  she  was  closing  up  the  war  with  Napoleon  and  preparing 
to  put  a  powerful  army  in  the  South  —  relying  as  she  was 
on  the  Creek  Indians  with  their  scalping  knives  and  toma- 
hawks as  the  advance  guard  —  could  not  have  inspired  him 
with  more  daring  and  desperate  courage  than  he  exhibited 
in  his  determination  to  destroy  the  ally  of  the  British  so 
much  relied  on.  He  not  only  had  starvation  in  his  army, 
out  in  the  enemy's  country,  to  contend  with ;  he  had  mutiny 
in  its  most  aggravated  form  —  the  result  of  starvation  — 
and  with  an  army  in  whose  bravery  he  had  the  utmost  confi- 
dence; not  only  this,  but  as  yet  to  be  shown,  he  had  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  137 

Governor  of  the  State  virtually  ordering  him  back  where  he 
could  feed  his  army  —  but  with  it  all,  a  great  starving 
colossus,  he  stood  out  in  the  wilderness  and  said :  "Here  I 
stay  and  die  in  defense  of  the  helpless  and  for  the  honor  of 
my  country,  if  only  two  men  will  stay  with  me." 

By  this  unexampled  self-sacrifice  and  personal  heroism 
he  captured  the  Governor  of  the  State,  brought  back  his 
army,  freed  the  frontiers  from  the  British  murdering  allies, 
and  finally  made  haughty  old  England  respect  a  people  who, 
a  few  months  before,  had  been  a  nation  of  cowards  in  the 
estimation  of  a  braggart  press. 

And  this  respect  has  now  lasted  eighty-five  years. 


138  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE    CORRESPONDENCE    BETWEEN    GOVERNOR    BLOUNT    AND 

GENERAL  JACKSON JACKSON  REFUSES  TO  RETURN  TO 

TENNESSEE,  AND  RAISES  A  NEW  ARMY. 

IN  writing  the  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON, 
every  truthful  scrap  of  history  that  can  now  be  picked 
up  about  the  Creek  campaign,  and  especially  that  part 
of  the  campaign  now  under  consideration,  merits  its  place 
in  this  work,  and  no  part  of  the  investigation,  now  under- 
going the  third  revision,  has  imposed  on  me  a  more  sacred 
trust,  with  a  stronger  feeling  and  higher  appreciation  of  the 
sublime  —  transcendently  sublime  —  character  of  this  great 
American  soldier  than  the  Creek  Campaign.  Great  as  was 
his  power  in  all  the  crises,  and  wonderful  as  were  his  mar- 
velous successes  as  soldier  and  statesman  as  well  as  in  busi- 
ness, nothing  has  so  impressed  me  as  the  scenes  through 
which  we  are  now  passing,  and  in  them  the  reckless  daring 
and  hardihood  —  no  other  words  will  do.  It  was  a  des- 
perate courage  and  confidence  in  a  great  crisis,  in  whose 
surroundings  was  darkness,  without  a  single  star  shining, 
and  in  whose  future  there  was  confidence  in  only  one  breast, 
and  in  whose  outcome  there  was  the  glory  of  a  great  nation. 
In  the  preceding  chapters  the  reader  is  brought  to  see 
truly  the  situation,  and  may  appreciate  what  took  place 
between  the  Governor  of  Tennessee  and  General  Jackson, 
remembering  that  under  the  Constitution  the  Governor  was 
his  superior  officer,  for  Jackson  was  in  command  of  Tennes- 
see troops  —  fighting,  it  is  true,  the  battle  of  the  general 
Government ;  but  he  was  only  in  a  patriotic  sense  an  officer 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  139 

of  the  United  States,  this  campaign  being  a  Tennessee  cam- 
paign so  far. 

The  part  of  the  Governor's  letter  which  General  Jackson 
replied  to  is  as  follows : 

"I  am  incapable  of  willingly  saying  or  doing  anything  to 
injure  the  service,  or  that  which  would  injuriously  affect 
the  reputation  of  deserving  men,  or  the  standing  of  an  able 
and  patriotic  hero  and  general ;  but,  as  a  friend  to  my  Gov- 
ernment, most  ardently  desirous  that  every  step  taken  in  this 
quarter  may  promote  the  good  of  the  service,  and  the  stand- 
ing of  those  who  deserve  well  of  their  country,  I  do  not  see 
what  important  good  can  grow  out  of  your  continuing  at 
an  advanced  post,  in  the  enemy's  country,  with  a  handful  of 
brave  men.  Would  it  not,  under  all  circumstances,  be  most 
likely  to  be  attended  with  good  consequences  for  you  to 
return  to  the  frontier  of  Tennessee,  and,  with  your  patriotic 
force,  defend  our  frontier,  where  provision  can  be  readily 
afforded  on  better  terms  to  Government,  bringing  with  you 
your  baggage  and  supplies ;  and  there,  on  the  frontier,  await 
the  order  of  the  Government,  or  until  I  can  be  authorized  to 
reinforce  you,  or  to  call  a  new  force?  At  this  time,  I  really 
do  not  feel  authorized  to  order  a  draft,  or  I  would,  with  the 
greatest  of  all  pleasures  I  could  feel,  do  it.  Were  I  to 
attempt  it  in  an  unauthorized  way,  it  would  injure,  as  I 
think,  the  public  service,  which  I  would  rather  die  than  do. 
I  could  not  positively  assure  the  men  that  they  would  be 
paid. 

"I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  President's  message,  and  am 
gratified  to  see  the  handsome  terms  he  uses  in  speaking  of 
your  and  of  General  Coffee's  battles.  He  seems  to  mean 
something  about  Pensacola,  and,  to  effect  his  object  best,  a 
new  force  should  certainly  be  organized.  Many  who  are 
now,  and  have  been,  on  the  campaign,  would  go  again  on 
that  business,  if  they  are  pleased  with  the  President's 
decision  respecting  their  term  of  service,  under  the  late 
orders.  I  shall,  from  what  I  have  said  about  the  propriety 
of  your  return  to  the  Tennessee  frontier,  feel  bound  to  send 
a  copy  of  this  to  the  War  Department,  for  the  information 
of  Government,  and  by  way  of  apology  for  offering  such 


140  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

an  opinion  to  an  officer  in  the  service  of  the  United  States. 
"I  am,  with  highest  respect  and  most  sincere  regard, 
"Your  friend,  WILLIE  BLOUNT." 

General  Jackson's  reply  to  this  letter  is  as  follows : 

"Had  your  wish  that  I  should  discharge  a  part  of  my 
force,  and  retire  with  the  residue  into  the  settlements, 
assumed  the  form  of  a  positive  order,  it  might  have  fur- 
nished me  some  apology  for  pursuing  such  a  course,  but  by 
no  means  a  full  justification.  As  you  would  have  no  power 
to  give  such  an  order,  I  could  not  be  inculpable  in  obeying, 
with  my  eyes  open  to  the  fatal  consequences  that  would 
attend  it.  But  a  bare  recommendation,  founded,  as  I  am 
satisfied  it  must  be,  on  the  artful  suggestions  of  those  fireside 
patriots  who  seek  in  a  failure  of  the  expedition  an  excuse 
for  their  own  supineness,  and  upon  the  misrepresentations 
of  the  discontented  from  the  army,  who  wish  it  to  be  believed 
that  the  difficulties  which  overcame  their  patriotism  are 
wholly  insurmountable,  would  afford  me  but  a  feeble  shield 
against  the  reproaches  of  my  country  or  my  conscience. 
Believe  me,  my  respected  friend,  the  remarks  I  make  proceed 
from  the  purest  personal  regard.  If  you  would  preserve 
your  reputation,  or  that  of  the  State  over  which  you  preside, 
you  must  take  a  straightforward,  determined  course,  regard- 
less of  the  applause  or  censure  of  the  populace,  and  of  the 
forebodings  of  that  dastardly  and  designing  crew  who,  at 
a  time  like  this,  may  be  expected  to  clamor  continually  in 
your  ears.  The  very  wretches  who  now  beset  you  with  evil 
counsel  will  be  the  first,  should  the  measures  which  they 
recommend  eventuate  in  disaster,  to  call  down  imprecations 
on  your  head  and  load  you  with  reproaches.  Your  country 
is  in  danger;  apply  its  resources  to  its  defense.  Can  any 
course  be  more  plain  ?  Do  you,  my  friend,  at  such  a  moment 
as  the  present,  sit  with  your  arms  folded  and  your  heart  at 
ease,  waiting  a  solution  of  your  doubts  and  definitions  of 
your  powers?  Do  you  wait  for  special  instructions  from 
the  Secretary  of  War,  which  it  is  impossible  for  you  to 
receive  in  time  for  the  danger  that  threatens  ?  How  did  the 
venerable  Shelby  act  under  similar  circumstances,  or,  rather, 
under  circumstances  by  no  means  so  critical?  Did  he  wait 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  141 

for  orders  to  do  what  every  man  of  sense  knew — what  every 
patriot  felt  to  be  right?  He  did  not;  and  yet  how  highly 
and  justly  did  the  Government  extol  his  manly  and  energetic 
conduct!  and  how  dear  has  his  name  become  to  every 
friend  of  his  country! 

"You  say  that  an  order  to  bring  the  necessary  quota  of 
men  into  the  field  has  been  given,  and  that,  of  course,  your 
power  ceases ;  and,  although  you  are  made  sensible  that  the 
order  has  been  wholly  neglected,  you  can  take  no  measure 
to  remedy  the  omission.  Widely  different,  indeed,  is  my 
opinion.  I  consider  it  your  imperious  duty  when  the  men, 
called  for  by  your  authority,  founded  upon  that  of  the 
Government,  are  known  not  to  be  in  the  field,  to  see  that  they 
be  brought  there ;  and  to  take  immediate  measures  with  the 
officer  who,  charged  with  the  execution  of  your  order,  omits 
or  neglects  to  do  it.  As  the  executive  of  the  State,  it  is  your 
duty  to  see  that  the  full  quota  of  troops  be  constantly  kept 
in  the  field  for  the  time  they  have  been  required.  You  are 
responsible  to  the  Government,  your  officer  to  you.  Of 
what  avail  is  it  to  give  an  order  if  it  be  never  executed,  and 
may  be  disobeyed  with  impunity?  Is  it  by  empty  mandates 
that  we  can  hope  to  conquer  our  enemies,  and  save  our 
defenseless  frontiers  from  butchery  and  devastation? 
Believe  me,  my  valued  friend,  there  are  times  when  it  is 
highly  criminal  to  shrink  from  responsibility,  or  scruple 
about  the  exercise  of  our  powers.  There  are  times  when 
we  must  disregard  punctilious  etiquette,  and  think  only  of 
serving  our  country.  The  enemy  we  have  been  sent  to 
subdue  may  be  said,  if  we  stop  at  this,  to  be  only  exasper- 
ated. The  commander  in  chief,  General  Pinckney,  who 
supposes  me  by  this  time  prepared  for  renewed  operations, 
has  ordered  me  to  advance  and  form  a  junction  with  the 
Georgia  army;  and  upon  the  expectation  that  I  will  do  so 
are  all  his  arrangements  formed  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
campaign.  Will  it  do  to  defeat  his  plans,  and  jeopardize 
the  safety  of  the  Georgia  army  ?  The  general  Government, 
too,  believe,  and  have  a  right  to  believe,  that  we  have  now 
not  less  than  five  thousand  men  in  the  heart  of  the  enemy's 
country;  and  on  this  opinion  are  all  their  calculations  bot- 
tomed; and  must  they  all  be  frustrated,  and  I  become  the 
instrument  by  which  it  is  done  ?  God  forbid ! 


142  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"You  advise  me  to  discharge  or  dismiss  from  service, 
until  the  will  of  the  President  can  be  known,  such  portion 
of  the  militia  as  have  rendered  three  months'  service.  This 
advice  astonishes  me  even  more  than  the  former.  I  have 
no  such  discretionary  power;  and  if  I  had,  it  would  be 
impolitic  and  ruinous  to  exercise  it.  I  believed  the  militia 
who  were  not  specially  received  for  a  shorter  period  were 
engaged  for  six  months,  unless  the  objects  of  the  expedition 
should  be  sooner  attained ;  and  in  this  opinion  I  was  greatly 
strengthened  by  your  letter  of  the  I5th,  in  which  you  say, 
when  answering  my  inquiry  upon  this  subject,  'the  militia 
are  detached  for  six  months'  service';  nor  did  I  know  or 
suppose  you  had  a  different  opinion  until  the  arrival  of  your 
last  letter.  This  opinion  must,  I  suppose,  agreeably  to  your 
request,  be  made  known  to  General  Roberts'  brigade,  and 
then  the  consequences  are  not  difficult  to  be  foreseen. 
Every  man  belonging  to  it  will  abandon  me  on  the  4th  of 
next  month ;  nor  shall  I  have  the  means  of  preventing  it  but 
by  the  application  of  force,  which,  under  such  circumstances, 
I  shall  not  be  at  liberty  to  use.  I  have  labored  hard  to 
reconcile  these  men  to  a  continuance  in  service  until  they 
could  be  honorably  discharged,  and  had  hoped  I  had,  in  a 
great  measure,  succeeded ;  but  your  opinion,  operating  with 
their  own  prejudices,  will  give  a  sanction  to  their  conduct, 
and  render  useless  any  further  attempts.  They  will  go; 
but  I  can  neither  discharge  or  dismiss  them.  Shall  I  be 
told  that,  as  they  will  go,  it  may  as  well  be  peaceably  per- 
mitted? Can  that  be  any  good  reason  why  I  should  do  an 
unauthorized  act  ?  Is  it  a  good  reason  why  I  should  violate 
the  order  of  my  superior  officer,  and  evince  a  willingness  to 
defeat  the  purposes  of  my  Government?  And  wherein 
does  the  'sound  policy'  of  the  measures  that  have  been  rec- 
ommended consist?  or  in  what  way  are  they  'likely  to 
promote  the  public  good'  ?  Is  it  sound  policy  to  abandon  a 
conquest  thus  far  made,  and  deliver  up  to  havoc,  or  add  to 
the  number  of  our  enemies,  those  friendly  Creeks  and  Chero- 
kees,  who,  relying  on  our  protection,  have  espoused  our 
cause  and  aided  us  with  their  arms  ?  Is  it  good  policy  to 
turn  loose  upon  our  defenseless  frontiers  five  thousand 
exasperated  savages,  to  reek  their  hands  once  more  in  the 
blood  of  our  citizens?  What!  retrograde  under  such  cir- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  143 

cumstances!  I  will  perish  first.  No,  I  will  do  my  duty; 
I  will  hold  the  posts  I  have  established,  until  ordered  to 
abandon  them  by  the  commanding  general,  or  die  in  the 
struggle;  long  since  have  I  determined  not  to  seek  the 
preservation  of  life  at  the  sacrifice  of  reputation. 

"But  our  frontiers,  it  seems,  are  to  be  defended,  and  by 
whom  ?  By  the  very  force  that  is  now  recommended  to  be 
dismissed  —  for  I  am  first  told  to  retire  into  the  settlements 
and  protect  the  frontiers;  next,  to  discharge  my  troops; 
and  then,  that  no  measures  can  be  taken  for  raising  others. 
No,  my  friend ;  if  troops  be  given  me,  it  is  not  by  loitering 
on  the  frontiers  that  I  seek  to  give  protection;  they  are  to 
be  defended,  if  defended  at  all,  in  a  very  different  manner  — 
by  carrying  the  war  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country. 
All  other  hopes  of  defense  are  more  visionary  than  dreams. 
What,  then,  is  to  be  done?  I'll  tell  you  what.  You  have 
only  to  act  with  the  energy  and  decision  the  crisis  demands, 
and  all  will  be  well.  Send  me  a  force  engaged  for  six 
months,  and  I  will  answer  for  the  result;  but  withholding 
it,  and  all  is  lost  —  the  reputation  of  the  State,  and  yours, 
and  mine  along  with  it." 

This  letter  of  General  Jackson  to  Governor  Blount  is  a 
part  of  American  history  which  an  author  is  unwilling  to 
leave,  filling  up  so  much  space  and  no  more.  It  is  a  sign- 
board on  the  highway  which  says  to  the  traveler,  "Look 
back  and  remember  the  past,"  and  to  the  seer,  "Look  into 
the  future  and  tell  its  story  to  those  who  do  not  know  it." 
And  the  author  is  tempted  to  stop  and  tell  the  muses  who 
may  write  a  play  —  a  drama  —  and  let  the  curtain  rise  that 
a  moving  and  forgetful  people  may  not  only  see  the  monarch 
of  the  masses  as  he  came  from  an  obscurity  so  dense  that  he 
did  not  know  what  State  he  was  born  in,  as  their  ancestors 
had  seen  and  loved  him,  but  see  him  in  the  work  to  come  as 
a  commander  of  armies  —  showing  the  Indians  there  was  a 
better  business  than  a  massacre  of  women  and  children; 
showing  a  Spanish  Alcalde  that  there  was  a  better  business 
than  giving  shelter  to  a  British  fleet;  showing  the  British 


144  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Commissioners  at  Ghent  that  peace  was  a  good  thing  when 
Jackson  with  his  army  had  cleaned  up  the  Indians  and  was 
on  his  way  to  New  Orleans ;  and  then  showing  old  England 
that  Wellington's  troops  could  not  whip  Tennessee  squirrel 
hunters. 

But  leaving  the  muses,  what  do  we  see  —  the  Governor 
getting  Jackson's  letter ;  a  converted  man ;  out  with  all  his 
staff,  including  Jackson's  two  preachers,  telling  the  story  of 
Jackson  with  a  handful  of  men  fighting  back  the  Fort 
Mimms  murderers  until  he  can  get  an  army  —  and  Tennes- 
see is  aroused  as  never  before  or  since,  and  Jackson  has  a 
new  army  and  supplies  to  feed  them. 

When  this  second  Tennessee  Army  reached  Jackson  in 
the  Indian  Nation,  he  had  lost  a  good  many  soldiers,  and 
his  great  Lieutenant  Coffee  was  wounded  in  one  of  two  bat- 
tles he  had  fought  to  keep  the  Indians  back. 

The  letter  here  published  is  not  the  work  of  an  illiterate 
man. 

If  Jackson  did  not  write  this  letter ;  if  he  did  not  give  it 
body,  language,  force;  if  it  was  not  his  thoughts,  with  his 
own  power  of  expressing  them,  then  he  did  have  an  amanu- 
ensis out  in  the  wilderness  capable  of  commanding  an  army 
himself,  or  of  doing  any  other  thing  which  exceptionally 
great  men  only  are  capable  of  doing ;  for  when  a  man  gets 
big  enough  to  think  the  thoughts  and  put  them  together, 
making  a  structure  that  rides  the  storm  like  the  great  ship 
rides  the  waves,  he  quits  taking  dictation  and  becomes  him- 
self a  master  instead  of  a  servant. 

Whoever  studies  the  conditions  and  then  studies  this 
letter,  will  see  that  while  other  great  generals,  the  victors  of 
battles,  have  made  new  maps,  fixing  new  boundaries  for 
their  own  and  other  countries,  Jackson  by  this  one  letter, 
and  by  his  supreme  power  in  organizing  the  army  which 
the  letter  brought  him,  made  it  possible  for  him  to  show  the 
world  a  new  map  of  his  own  beloved  country  —  spreading 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  145 

it  out  over  land  and  sea,  and  into  all  countries,  and  on  every 
shore  where  the  stars  and  stripes  signalize  the  lawful  pur- 
pose of  American  citizenship. 

In  the  powerful  array  of  facts  and  force  of  character 
which  this  letter  exhibited,  Jackson  won  over  the  Governor, 
brought  back  the  mutinous  and  deserting  army,  and  brought 
a  citizen  soldiery  which  met,  conquered,  and  drove  out  of 
the  country  an  army  of  double  their  numbers,  which  had 
captured  Hull  and  saturated  the  soil  at  Frenchtown  with 
American  blood. 

It  will  be  a  revelation  to  many  people  that  those  who  had 
an  opportunity  and  did  examine  the  files  at  an  early  day, 
have  already  shown  that  this  letter  was  written  by  Jackson, 
and  is  in  his  strong,  bold  hand. 

The  new  army,  which  the  letter  brought,  of  near  four 
thousand  men,  assembled  at  Fort  Strother;  supplies  were 
hauled  over  the  mountains  from  Tennessee. 

Leaving  a  force  to  protect  his  rear  —  for  while  Jackson 
knew  the  Indians  were  assembling  on  the  Tallapoosa  River 
about  fifty  miles  south,  he  knew  Indians  were  uncertain, 
and  thus  guarding  well  his  rear  —  he  took  two  thousand 
of  the  best  horses  and  that  many  men  and  moved  on  the 
army. 
10 


146  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  EXCURSION JACKSON'S  REPORT  TO  GENERAL  PINCK- 

NEY WAS     A     MAJOR     GENERAL     AND      COMMANDING 

TENNESSEE     MILITIA,     REPORTING    TO     UNITED     STATES 
OFFICER  —  BATTLE  OF  EMUCKFAU  AND  ENOCTACHOPOC 

—  GENERAL     COFFEE     WOUNDED JACKSON     AND     HIS 

COMPANY    OF     OFFICERS STARVATION     AND     MUTINY, 

BUT  NO  RETREAT  FOR  JACKSON. 

CONTINUING  the  subject  under  discussion  in  the 
last  chapter,  Governor  Blount's  letter  of  the  23d  of 
December,  1813,  and  General  Jackson's  reply,  as 
indicating  a  condition  of  affairs  than  which  nothing  could 
be  darker  in  the  outlook,  and  believing  that  to  know  General 
Jackson  the  light  should  be  let  in  on  every  phase  of  the 
Creek  campaign,  I  shall  quote  somewhat  at  large  from 
Putnam  Waldo's  <rLife  of  Jackson."  Mr.  Waldo  was  a 
citizen  of  Massachusetts,  was  an  honest  believer  in  General 
Jackson,  a  thoroughly  capable  writer,  and  wrote  his  life  of 
Jackson  only  four  years  after  the  close  of  the  Creek  cam- 
paign—  that  is,  in  1818.  This  book,  a  small  volume,  is 
valuable  in  many  respects.  It  was  written  when  there  was 
reliable  evidence  to  be  had  about  the  Jackson  family,  the 
mother  of  the  great  soldier  and  her  trials  in  desperate  pov- 
erty, and  how  she  instilled  into  the  minds  of  her  boys  senti- 
ments of  patriotism.  Patriotism  with  her  meant  nursing 
the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  Revolution,  and  death  to  the 
British.  General  Jackson's  critical  and  responsible  position 
is  well  stated  by  this  faithful  biographer  in  some  extracts, 
including  a  letter  written  from  Huntsville  the  same  day, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  147 

December  23d,  on  which  Governor  Blount  wrote  the  letter 
to  General  Jackson.      Mr.  Waldo  says: 

"Soon  after  the  battle  of  Talladega,  Brigadier  General 
Coffee's  mounted  volunteers  and  cavalry  were  permitted  to 
retire  into  the  settlements  to  recruit  their  horses.  They 
were  to  rendezvous  at  Huntsvilfe,  in  Mississippi  Territory, 
upon  the  8th  of  December,  where  General  Coffee  was  dan- 
gerously sick.  Upon  this  excellent  officer  and  his  gallant 
men  General  Jackson  placed  the  most  confident  reliance. 
They  rendezvoused  upon  the  8th,  but  they  had  caught  the 
infection  that  pervaded  the  infantry  —  the  fever  of  home 
and  home  ties.  They,  however,  proceeded  towards  head- 
quarters; but  they  were  no  longer  the  'men  they  were.' 
It  must  always  be  admitted  that  they  had  already  rendered 
essential  service  to  their  country,  and  it  was  the  reputation 
they  had  acquired  that  rendered  it  desirable  to  have  them 
continue  in  the  service.  General  Jackson,  seconded  in  his 
views  by  the  gallant  Coffee  and  by  many  patriots  of  the  first 
water,  exerted  again  his  great  powers,  but  exerted  them  in 
vain.  Governor  Blount  ordered  the  volunteers  to  be  dis- 
missed, and  they  returned  home. 

"General  Jackson  was  now  in  a  situation  which  required 
all  the  fortitude  of  the  man,  all  the  nerve  of  the  soldier, 
and  all  the  sagacity  of  the  statesman.  He  held  frequent 
communications  with  Governor  Blount,  of  Tennessee ;  Gov- 
ernor Early,  of  Georgia,  and  Major  General  Pinckney,  and 
his  opinion  seemed  to  be  a  guide  for  theirs.  Certain  it  is 
that  Governor  Blount,  towards  the  close  of  1813,  owing  to 
the  disaffection  of  the  Tennessee  troops,  and  the  reluctance 
with  which  volunteers  appeared,  recommended  an  abandon- 
ment of  the  expedition  into  the  Creek  country.  The  urgent 
and  cogent  expostulations  of  General  Jackson  induced  him 
to  change  his  opinion,  and  to  resort  to  the  most  energetic 
measures  to  prosecute  the  war,  which  had  been  so  success- 
fully commenced  by  him." 

Perhaps  the  situation  of  General  Jackson  at  this  time 
cannot  be  better  described  than  it  is  in  the  following  letter, 
written  by  a  gentleman  known  by  the  author  to  be  of  the 
first  respectability: 


148  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"HUNTSVILLE,  M.  T.,  December  23,  1813. 
"Since  the  battle  of  Tallehatchie  and  Talladega,  the  army 
of  General  Jackson  has  crumbled  to  pieces.  The  whole  of 
his  volunteer  infantry  are  returning  home,  insisting  that 
their  time  of  service  expired  on  the  loth  of  the  month,  being 
the  anniversary  of  their  rendezvous  at  Nashville.  (These 
were  troops  who  had  volunteered  for  the  Natchez  cam- 
paign.) The  General,  however,  did  not  discharge  them; 
the  decision  is  left  with  the  Governor  of  Tennessee.  What 
he  will  do  is  not  yet  known.  The  universal  impression, 
however,  is  that  they  will  be  discharged.  Yet  nothing  is 
more  clear  than  that  they  have  not  served  twelve  months, 
and  they  were  by  law  to  serve  twelve  months  in  a  period  of 
two  years,  unless  sooner  discharged.  The  General's  force 
now  at  Fort  Strother,  Ten  Islands  of  Coosa,  may  amount 
to  about  1,500  men,  chiefly  drafted  militia.  Of  these  nearly 
the  whole  will  be  entitled  to  discharge  about  the  4th  of  the 
ensuing  month.  It  is  supposed  that  not  more  than  150  or 
200  (who  are.  attached  to  the  General  personally,  and  will 
remain  through  motives  of  affection)  will  be  left  with  him 
after  that  day.  Doubtless  you  know  that  the  brigade  of 
cavalry  volunteers  and  mounted  riflemen,  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Coffee,  were  sometime  since  ordered  into 
the  settlements  to  recruit  their  horses  for  a  few  days,  and 
procure  new  ones." 

In  this  dark  hour,  and  while  his  letter  and  the  Governor's 
proclamation  and  the  appeals  of  Cartwright  and  Blackburn, 
under  the  inspiration  of  Jackson,  were  working  out  his  final 
purpose  of  raising  a  new  army  in  Tennessee,  General  Jack- 
son, with  his  faithful  Coffee  and  Carroll,  and  such  raw 
troops  as  they  could  bring  to  him,  made  an  excursion  further 
into  the  Indian  Nation.  This  was  done  from  two  consid- 
erations: First,  to  hold  the  great  body  of  the  Indians  in 
check  until  he  got  ready  to  attack  them;  and,  second,  to 
keep  his  new  recruits  from  the  effects  of  idleness  in  camp. 
After  he  made  this  excursion,  he  made  a  report  to  Major 
General  Pinckney,  from  which  I  make  the  following  extract : 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  149 

"Major  General  Jackson,  of  Tennessee  Volunteers,  to  Major 
General  Pinckney,  of  the  United  States  Army: 

"HEADQUARTERS,  FORT  STROTHER,  January  29,  1814. 
"Major  General  Thomas  Pinckney: 

"SiR  —  I  had  the  honor  of  informing  you  in  a  letter  of 
the  3ist  ult.  (express)  of  an  excursion  I  contemplated 
making  still  further  in  the  enemy's  country  with  the  new- 
raised  volunteers  from  Tennessee.  I  had  ordered  these 
troops  to  form  a  junction  with  me  on  the  loth  instant,  but 
they  did  not  arrive  until  the  I4th  instant.  Their  number, 
including  officers,  was  about  800,  and  on  the  I5th  I  marched 
them  across  the  river  to  graze  their  horses.  On  the  next 
day  I  followed  with  the  remainder  of  my  force,  consisting 
of  the  artillery  company  with  one  six-pounder,  one  company 
of  infantry  of  forty-eight  men,  two  companies  of  spies  — 
commanded  by  Captains  Gordon  and  Russell  —  of  about 
300  men  each,  and  a  company  of  volunteer  officers  headed 
by  General  Coffee,  who  had  been  abandoned  by  his  men,  and 
who  still  remained  in  the  field  awaiting  the  orders  of  the 
Government,  making  my  force,  exclusive  of  the  Indians, 
930." 

This  report  is  continued  at  great  length  —  perhaps  2,000 
words  —  showing  all  the  details  of  this  excursion.  It  is 
now  cut  down  to  a  few  paragraphs.  As  this  work  was  first 
written,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  publish  much  that  it  is 
now  found  space  will  not  allow.  But  this  report,  in  its 
minute  details,  is  truly  characteristic  of  a  man  whose  life  has 
been  misunderstood  by  the  American  people,  because  Mr. 
Parton,  along  with  other  untruths,  has  told  his  readers  that 
Jackson  was  greatly  lacking  in  business  qualities,  while  in 
all  our  wars  there  is  no  record  of  any  general  in  the  war 
office  that  is  so  complete;  the  truth  is,  his  reports  make  a 
complete  history  of  his  service,  including,  as  no  other  gen- 
eral has  done,  the  parts  performed  by  subordinates,  giving 
in  detail  the  movements  of  the  army  and  how  the  orders 
were  obeyed.  This  report,  like  many  others  that  must  be 


150  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

cut  down,  is  a  full  and  complete  history  of  the  excursion. 
The  report  closes  with  the  following : 

"In  these  several  engagements  our  loss  was  20  killed  and 
75  wounded,  four  of  whom  have  died  since.  The  loss  of 
the  enemy  cannot  be  accurately  ascertained  —  189  of  their 
warriors  were  found  dead;  but  this  must  fall  considerably 
short  of  the  number  really  killed.  Their  wounded  can  only 
be  guessed  at.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  unfortunate  retreat 
of  the  rear  guard  in  the  affair  of  the  24th  instant,  I  think  I 
could  safely  have  said  that  no  army  of  militia  ever  acted 
with  more  cool  and  deliberate  bravery,  undisciplined  and 
inexperienced  as  they  were.  Their  conduct  in  the  several 
engagements  of  the  22d  could  not  have  been  surpassed  by 
regulars.  No  army  ever  met  the  approach  of  an  enemy  with 
more  intrepidity,  or  repulsed  them  with  more  energy.  On 
the  24th,  after  the  retreat  of  the  rear  guard,  they  seemed  to 
have  lost  all  their  collectedness,  and  were  more  difficult  to  be 
restored  to  order  than  any  troops  I  had  ever  seen.  But  this 
was  no  doubt  owing  in  great  measure,  or  altogether,  to  that 
very  retreat,  and  ought  rather  to  be  ascribed  to  the  want  of 
courage  in  many  of  their  officers  than  any  cowardice  in  the 
men,  who,  on  every  occasion,  have  manifested  a  willingness 
to  perform  their  duty,  so  far  as  they  knew  it. 

"All  the  effects  which  were  designed  to  be  produced  by 
this  excursion  it  is  believed  have  been  produced.  If  an 
attack  was  meditated  against  Fort  Armstrong,  that  has  been 
prevented.  If  General  Floyd  is  operating  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Tallapoosa,  as  I  suppose  him  to  be,  a  most  fortunate 
diversion  has  been  made  in  his  favor.  The  number  of  the 
enemy  has  been  diminished,  and  the  confidence  they  may 
have  derived  from  the  delays  I  have  been  made  to  experience 
has  been  destroyed.  Discontent  has  been  kept  out  of  the 
army,  while  the  troops  who  would  have  been  exposed  to  it 
have  been  beneficially  employed.  The  enemy's  country  has 
been  explored,  and  a  road  cut  to  the  point  where  their  forces 
will  probably  be  concentrated,  when  they  shall  be  driven 
from  the  country  below.  But  in  a  report  of  this  kind,  and 
to  you,  who  will  immediately  perceive  them,  it  is  not  neces- 
sary to  state  the  happy  consequences  which  may  be  expected 
to  result  from  this  excursion.  Unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  151 

it  will  be  found  to  have  hastened  the  termination  of  the 
Creek  War  more  effectually  than  any  measure  I  could  have 
taken  with  the  troops  under  my  command.  I  am,  with 
sentiments  of  high  respect. 

"Your  obedient  servant, 

"ANDREW  JACKSON,  Major  General." 

General  Jackson  calls  this  an  excursion ;  he  does  not  dig- 
nify it  as  a  campaign. 

The  few  men  that  General  Carroll  had  been  able  to  gather 
up  and  bring  to  General  Jackson  about  the  time,  and  while 
the  soldiers  who  had  fought  the  battles  of  Tallahassie  and 
Talladega  were  on  the  way  home,  had  only  enlisted  for  two 
months — it  was  with  them  a  frolic  out  in  the  Indian  country. 

From  the  i5th  of  December,  1813,  to  the  I5th  of  January, 
1814,  General  Jackson  was  tried  as  no  other  general  at  the 
head  of  an  army  in  this  country,  or  perhaps  in  any  other 
country,  has  been.  He  was  a  Major  General  commanding 
State  Militia,  called  out  by  the  Governor,  paid  by  the  State, 
and  was  dependent  on  the  Governor's  call  for  an  army,  and 
subject  to  the  orders  of  a  Major  General  of  the  United 
States  Army,  the  United  States  being  at  war  with  Great 
Britain;  and  the  Indians,  the  Creeks,  whom  Jackson  was 
fighting,  being  England's  greatest  ally.  The  Governor  of 
the  State  was  ordering  him  to  bring  his  army  back  into  the 
State,  where  it  could  be  fed,  but  a  United  States  Major 
General  was  ordering  him  to  hold  every  position  he  had 
taken,  while  the  soldiers,  acting  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
public  sentiment  —  known  to  have  the  sympathy  of  the 
Governor  —  were  returning  to  the  State  where  they  could 
be  fed,  and  disperse  if  they  chose,  and  in  the  belief  that  their 
time  of  service  had  expired,  leaving  Jackson  in  the  wilder- 
ness with  a  few  men  who  had  made  up  their  minds  to  stay 
with  him  and  die. 

To  this  bodyguard  —  for  it  was  nothing  more  —  the  lively 
squirrel  hunters,  which  Carroll  and  Roberts  had  picked  up 


152  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

in  Tennessee,  were  added.  But  while  his  troops  were  leav- 
ing, and  before  the  5th  of  January,  Jackson  was  apprised  of 
the  call  made  by  the  Governor  under  the  inspiration  of  his 
letter  for  a  new  army.  As  a  diversion,  he  made  the  excur- 
sion and  fought  the  two  battles  of  Emuckfau  and  Enocta- 
chopoc.  Of  these  two  battles  Mr.  Waldo  says : 

"When  it  is  considered  what  troops  General  Jackson  had 
to  command  and  what  enemies  he  had  to  fight,  the  two  vic- 
tories of  Emuckfau,  on  the  22d,  and  the  signal  one  at 
Enoctachopoc,  on  the  24th,  will  bear  a  comparison  with  any 
in  modern  warfare.  The  liberal  applause  the  General 
bestows  on  the  brave,  and  the  excuse  he  finds  for  those 
whose  'retreat  ought  to  be  rather  ascribed  to  the  want  of 
courage  in  many  of  their  officers  than  to  any  cowardice  of 
the  men,'  must  endear  him  forever  to  the  soldier.  The 
'venerable  Cocke'  (who  survived)  and  the  brave  Lieutenant 
Armstrong  and  Captains  Hamilton  and  Quarles  (who  fell) 
are  placed  by  the  General's  report  upon  the  rolls  of  fame." 

And  of  the  second  battle,  Eaton,  in  his  "Life  of  Jackson," 
says: 

"The  conduct  of  General  Coffee  in  the  second  engagement 
was  eminently  praiseworthy.  Wounded  in  the  first  battle, 
he  was  carried  to  the  scene  of  the  second  on  a  litter.  When 
the  retreat  of  the  rear  guard  threw  the  army  into  confusion 
and  peril,  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  wherever  the 
danger  was  the  greatest,  inspiring  the  men  by  his  presence, 
his  words,  and  his  example,  and  contributing  most  power- 
fully to  restore  the  fortunes  of  the  day.  Jackson  himself 
was  a  lion  on  this  occasion." 

And  Major  Eaton  further  says : 

"Besides  being  supported  by  other  testimony,  is  in  itself 
probable.  But  for  him  everything  would  have  gone  to  ruin. 
On  him  all  hopes  were  rested.  In  that  moment  of  confusion 
he  was  the  rallying  point  even  for  the  spirits  of  the  brave. 
Firm  and  energetic,  and  at  the  same  time  perfectly  self- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  153 

possessed,  his  example  and  his  authority  alike  contributed  to 
arrest  the  flying,  and  to  give  confidence  to  those  who  main- 
tained their  ground.  Cowards  forgot  their  panic  and 
fronted  danger  when  they  heard  his  voice  and  beheld  his 
manner,  and  the  brave  would  have  formed  around  his  body 
a  rampart  of  their  own.  In  the  midst  of  showers  of  balls, 
of  which  he  seemed  unmindful,  he  was  seen  performing  the 
duties  of  the  subordinate  officers,  rallying  the  alarmed,  halt- 
ing them  in  their  flight,  forming  his  columns,  and  inspiriting 
them  by  his  example." 

In  this  last  battle  General  Coffee  was  wounded;  his 
brother-in-law,  Sandy  Donelson,  fighting  by  his  side,  was 
killed. 

On  the  28th  General  Coffee  wrote  to  his  father-in-law, 
Captain  Donelson,  an  account  of  the  battle.  I  make  the 
following  extracts : 

"We  have  to  record,"  began  Coffee  with  admirable  and 
awkward  delicacy,  "the  proceedings  of  another  excursion 
into  the  interior  of  the  enemy's  country,  and,  although  we 
have  met  with  success,  it  is  marked  with  circumstances  of 
regret  and  misfortune  that  are  serious  to  the  friends  of  those 
brave  men  whose  lives  have  been  lost  in  achieving  the  victo- 
ries that  have  been  obtained.  Painful  as  it  is,  I  must  inform 
you  that  Sandy  Donelson  was  among  the  slain.  He  fell  by 
a  ball  through  his  head,  near  me,  a  few  minutes  after  I 
had  received  a  wound  by  a  ball  through  my  side,  but  not 
dangerous. 

"In  a  state  of  war  the  lives  of  men  must  be  lost ;  and  the 
only  circumstances  that  leave  us  any  satisfaction  for  our 
departed  friends  is,  when  they  have  acted  their  part  well  and 
fallen  bravely  defending  the  Government,  we  are  bound  to 
protect,  and  in  that  your  son  was  exceeded  by  none.  He 
fell  in  the  fourth  battle  that  he  had  fought  by  my  side,  and 
I  can  with  certainty  say  that  a  braver  man  never  lived.  He 
is  no  more,  but  his  death  has  been  glorious.  He  has 
bequeathed  his  friends  a  valuable  inheritance  in  the  charac- 
ter he  has  acquired  to  his  memory ;  and  while  we,  his  friends, 
lament  his  loss  in  the  bloom  of  life,  we  may  rejoice  at  the 


154  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

honorable  station  in  which  his  memory  is  placed,  and  which 

is  beyond  the  reach  of  strife  and  envy 

"Our  great  loss  has  been  occasioned  by  our  troops  being 
raw  and  undisciplined,  commanded  by  officers  of  the  same 
description.  Had  I  had  my  old  regiment  of  cavalry,  I  could 
have  driven  the  enemy  wherever  I  met  them  without  loss. 
But  speculation  had  taken  them  out  of  the  field,  and  thus 
we  have  suffered  for  them.  Their  advisers  ought  to  suffer 
death  for  their  unwarranted  conduct,  and  I  hope  our  injured 
citizens  will  treat  them  with  the  contempt  they  so  justly 
deserve." 

The  account  here  given  of  this  "excursion,"  including  the 
two  battles  of  Emuckfau  and  Enoctachopoc,  and  the  long 
report  made  by  General  Jackson,  with  the  comments  of  his 
early  biographers,  and  extracts  from  the  letter  of  General 
Coffee,  may  seem  prolix,  but  the  history  of  the  Creek  cam- 
paign would  never  be  fully  understood  without  General 
Jackson's  explanations  about  the  "excursion." 

Indeed,  to  take  it  in  all  its  phases  —  an  army  deserted,  a 
single  company  made  up  of  faithful  officers  who  refused  to 
leave  their  commander  in  the  wilderness  By  himself,  with 
the  woods  full  of  fiendish  savages,  a  few  friendly  Indians, 
and  a  few  hundred  picked-up  squirrel  hunters  out  on  a  frolic 
of  two  months,  commanded  by  officers  —  officers  as  much 
lacking  in  soldier  qualities  as  they  —  and  this  campaign, 
"excursion,"  and  the  two  battles,  form  one  of  the  most  inter- 
esting incidents  in  the  life  of  this  great  General,  whose 
wonderful  career  is  made  up  of  expedients  and  experiments, 
all  of  which  were  successes  that  became  historic  triumphs. 

Through  all  this  trial  of  starvation,  mutiny,  and  wholesale 
desertion,  while  combatting  the  policy  of  the  government  of 
his  State,  unable  for  the  lack  of  men  to  advance,  and,  indeed, 
only  by  a  faith,  as  mysterious  and  sublime  as  that  of 
Abraham  in  offering  his  son  on  the  altar,  did  he,  with  a 
handful  of  personal  followers,  remain  in  the  wilderness, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  155 

holding  what  he  had  gained  —  thoroughly  keeping  the 
Indians  from  the  frontiers  till  he  got  ready  to  fight  the  final 
battle  with  them,  then  assembling  at  the  Horse  Shoe. 

The  faith  of  General  Jackson,  if  it  was  not  a  religious 
faith,  is  an  incomprehensible  mystery.  No  other  man  hold- 
ing the  destinies  of  a  great  nation  in  his  hands  ever  had  it. 

From  the  day  the  war  was  declared,  in  June,  1812, 
Jackson  sought  position  in  the  army.  He  had  been  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress,  once  resigning  and  once  quit.  He 
had  resigned  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  — 
being  unwilling  to  hold  but  one  public  office,  major  general 
of  the  militia  —  believing  with  a  religious  faith  in  the  pre- 
destination of  a  soldier's  life. 

After  the  war  came  he  begged  the  Government  to  let  him 
take  his  Tennessee  Militia  and  go  to  the  Canadian  line  and 
redeem  the  soldier  quality  of  the  United  States  Army,  and 
never  doubted  but  he  could  do  it.  While  held  in  camp  at 
Natchez  as  a  promoter  of  Wilkinson's  ambition,  he  appealed 
to  the  Secretary  of  War  to  be  sent  to  the  Canadian  line. 

When  the  day  came  to  disband  his  army,  he  risked  all  and 
refused  to  obey  the  order,  never  doubting  that  he  would 
show  the  Government  that  he  knew  more  than  the  Secretary 
of  War  did,  and  that  to  disobey  the  order  was  an  imperative 
duty. 

When  the  committee  went  and  reported  the  massacre  at 
Fort  Mimms,  sixteen  days  after  he  had  been  so  severely 
wounded,  the  surgeons  drove  the  committee  out  of  the  room ; 
he  drove  the  surgeons  out,  got  out  of  bed  and  took  command 
of  the  army,  with  the  undying  faith  of  his  own  judgment  as 
to  his  powers  of  recuperation. 

When  the  Governor  of  the  State  ordered  him  to  bring  his 
army  back  to  Tennessee,  and  his  army  left  him  and  went 
home,  he  doubted  the  wisdom  of  such  action,  and  with  a 
Christian's  faith  remained  in  the  wilderness  and  raised  a 
new  army;  destroyed  the  Creek  Nation  —  the  enemy's 


156  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

great  ally,  in  one  single  battle;  went  into  a  Spanish  prov- 
ince over  a  refusal  on  the  part  of  his  Government  to  give 
permission,  deposed  the  Spanish  Governor,  and  then  turned 
on  New  Orleans  and  drove  the  British  army  back  into  the 
sea,  and  never  had  a  doubt  about  success  —  though  he  had 
an  army  of  squirrel  hunters,  clothed  in  hunting  shirts  and 
coonskin  caps  —  one-third  of  them  without  guns,  and  fight- 
ing a  trained  army  of  the  most  warlike  people  in  the  world. 

The  campaign  which  General  Jackson  in  his  enlarged 
appreciation  of  military  services  calls  an  excursion  is  like 
many  other  events  in  Jackson's  life  —  it  was  one  of  many 
episodes,  one  climax  after  another,  on  which  the  greatest 
issues  turned,  and  from  each  of  which  the  lines  of  subse- 
quent history  radiated,  and  by  which  and  over  which  bio- 
graphical histories  must  be  drawn. 

Let  a  well-informed  Tennessean  put  his  imagination  to 
work.  Suppose  when  Jackson  was  ordered  by  the  Secretary 
of  War  to  disband  his  army  at  Natchez  in  the  wilderness, 
and  with  the  transportation  as  it  was  turned  over  to  Major 
General  Wilkinson,  at  New  Orleans  —  evidently  intended 
for  Wilkinson  to  recruit  an  army  out  of  the  stragglers,  men 
who  could  not  get  back  home  —  suppose  Jackson,  who  at 
that  time  was  a  doubtful  quantity  with  the  Government, 
while  Wilkinson  had  been  made  a  Major  General,  but  when 
sent  North  soon  after  turned  out  to  be  more  than  a  failure  — 
really  an  upstart  —  had  obeyed  this  order,  left  his  men  in 
the  wilderness,  soured  and  turned  his  back  on  the  Govern- 
ment, the  grandest  chapter  in  American  history  would  be 
left  out  —  to  wit :  the  Southwest  putting  an  end  to  Indian 
wars,  putting  the  flag  back  on  the  Capitol  that  the  British 
army  had  taken  down,  and,  above  all,  a  revival  —  indeed, 
a  restoration  of  a  martial  spirit  which  had  almost  disap- 
peared from  the  effects  of  repeated  victories  at  the  North 
over  our  troops. 

Suppose  when  the  news  came  of  the  awful  massacre  at 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  157 

Fort  Mimms,  General  Jackson  had  listened  to  his  surgeons, 
who  would  have  made  the  history  that  brings  us  out  of  the 
darkest  day  into  the  brightest  morning. 

Suppose  Jackson  had  obeyed  the  order  of  the  Governor 
and  turned  back  in  front  of  10,000  Creek  warriors,  or  sup- 
pose he  had  heeded  the  threat  found  in  the  refusal  to  permit 
his  going  to  Pensacola,  or  suppose  he  had  abandoned  the 
campaign  when  his  soldiers  in  a  body  left  him  out  in  the 
Indian's  country  with  a  mere  handful  of  men  ? 

Indeed,  General  Jackson's  whole  life  is  a  history-making 
map. 

Coming  back  to  the  critical  period  when  the  entire 
army  out  in  the  Indian  Nation  were  starving  and  in  a  state 
of  mutiny  —  in  large  bodies  going  back  home  with  the 
approval  of  the  Governor  of  the  State,  what  shall  be  said  ? 
Who  can  write  the  story  of  Andrew  Jackson  from  the 
moment  when  in  front  of  a  starving  mutinous  army,  and  in 
disobedience  of  the  Governor's  order,  he  stood  in  front  and 
uttered  these  immortal  words :  "If  one  single  man  will  stay 
with  me,  I  will  stay  and  die  in  the  wilderness"  ? 

And  who  can  estimate  the  devotion  to  a  great  leader  of 
Capt.  Thomas  Kennedy  Gordon,  when  he  stepped  out  and 
said :  "General,  I  will  stay  and  die  with  you"  ? 

Out  of  the  whole  army  109  men  stepped  out  and  said, 
"We  will  stay."  Then  Jackson's  two  lieutenants,  Carroll 
and  Coffee,  always  as  true  to  him  as  the  stars  that  stay  and 
move  about  the  great  Jupiter  are  to  the  king  of  the  heavens, 
standing  by  the  old  hero,  said  one  of  them :  "I  will  go  back 
to  the  frontiers  and  say  Jackson  wants  soldiers" ;  and  the 
other  said :  "I  will  make  a  captain's  company  and  lead  it,  of 
officers  whose  men  have  left  them."  And  then  it  was  in  this 
dire  emergency — the  seeming  dread  day  of  a  great  general's 
discomfiture,  that  there  came  an  offer  of  sacrifice  to  liberty 
as  truly  gallant,  if  not  as  tragic,  as  when  the  300  Spartans 
died  in  the  mountain  pass  to  save  the  city. 


158  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

And  why  is  this  chapter  left  out  of  American  history  — 
except  as  Mr.  Waldo  and  Mr.  Eaton  made  note  of  it  in  1817 
and  1818  —  and  in  its  details  only  found  in  the  archives  at 
Washington  as  parts  of  a  great  bundle  of  reports  made 
about  ninety  years  ago  by  a  general  who  knew  how  and 
what  to  write,  as  well  as  he  knew  how  and  when  to  fight? 
The  country  at  large  has  known  little  or  nothing  of  the  dark 
day  of  the  Creek  campaign,  called  by  Jackson  an  excursion, 
but  known  to  England's  greatest  warrior,  who,  after  reading 
it,  pronounced  Jackson  one  of  the  world's  greatest  generals. 

For  daring  courage  with  life  in  hand  there  is  nothing  in 
the  history  of  war  that  exceeds  this  "excursion" — one 
lieutenant  crossing  the  mountain  to  pick  up  squirrel  hunters 
and  the  other  organizing  a  captain's  company  of  deserted 
officers  to  stay  in  the  wilderness  and  fight  back  10,000 
Creeks  then  assembling  at  the  Horse  Shoe,  and  doing  it 
until  Carroll  made  a  second  trip  to  Tennessee,  and  raised 
another  army  to  fight  at  the  last  battle. 

And  the  victories  at  Emuckfau  and  Enoctachopoc,  as 
Major  Eaton  says,  will  compare  with  anything  in  modern 
warfare  —  and  thus  saving  the  women  and  children  on  the 
frontiers  of  two  States,  is  a  chapter,  like  the  one  dropped 
out,  of  the  Battle  of  Mobile,  which  must  be  restored  that 
posterity  may  see  it. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  159 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  HORSE  SHOE SKETCH   OF  THE  LIFE 

OF   SAM    HOUSTON INCLUDING   GOVERNOR    HOUSTON'S 

LETTER  RESIGNING  THE  OFFICE  OF  GOVERNOR. 

AFTER  the  termination  of  what  General  Jackson 
called  an  excursion,  but  which  really  was  a  cam- 
paign, and  in  which  he  fought  two  battles  which 
told  effectually  in  the  general  campaign  against  the  Creek 
Indians,  and  while  waiting  on  the  reorganization  of  the 
army,  two  unpleasant  events  occurred,  which  must  be 
recorded  to  make  this  part  of  his  life  complete.  One  was 
his  ordering  the  arrest  of  General  Cocke,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  East  Tennessee  forces,  and  moving  to  Fort 
Strother. 

The  whole  history  of  this  affair  shows  that  General  Jack- 
son was  misled  through  information  by  designing  men. 
The  order  was  peremptory,  and  to  an  officer  under  General 
Cocke  to  arrest  him.  He  was  arrested;  the  charge  was 
that  he  was  encouraging  a  mutinous  spirit  in  the  army.  It 
turned  out  that  the  officer  who  took  command  after  the 
arrest  was  he  who  had  furnished  the  information  upon 
which  he  was  arrested. 

The  charge  was  a  grave  one,  and  General  Cocke  was  sus- 
pended, and  finally  tried  when  the  campaign  was  over  by  a 
court-martial  and  honorably  acquitted,  it  being  conclusively 
shown  that  there  was  not  only  no  cause  for  suspicion,  but 
as  an  officer  he  was  doing  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  mutiny 
and  bring  the  campaign  to  a  successful  close. 

The  other  affair  was  one  that  had  much  to  do  with  the 
future  political  campaigns  of  General  Jackson.  Through 


160  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

his  whole  life  the  trial,  conviction,  and  execution  of  John 
Woods  was  brought  up  against  him.  Woods  was  charged 
with  mutiny  and  desertion,  which  was  not  denied,  but  was 
greatly  aggravated  by  a  show  of  arms  and  a  threat  to  shoot 
when  he  was  arrested.  He  was  put  on  trial  by  a  court- 
martial,  officers  of  high  rank  being  selected  to  try  him,  and 
when  the  trial  was  going  on,  General  Jackson,  showing  his 
intense  anxiety  about  it  and  what  great  responsibility  might 
fall  upon  him,  walked  excitedly  before  the  court  and  said  to 
the  judges:  "Be  cautious  and  mind  what  you  are  about; 
for,  by  the  Eternal  God,  the  next  man  that  is  condemned 
will  not  be  pardoned;  and  this  is  a  hale,  hearty  young 
fellow."  The  court  convicted  him,  and  with  all  the  appli- 
cations that  were  made  to  General  Jackson,  which  were 
numerous,  he  refused  to  pardon  him,  and  he  was  executed. 

The  enemies  of  General  Jackson  never  ceased  to  use  this 
against  him,  the  execution  of  the  soldier,  whom  they  held 
up  before  the  public  as  a  poor  young  man  shot  to  death  by 
the  order  of  General  Jackson.  The  time  has  come  when 
this  sad  affair  should  be  looked  at  in  its  true  light.  If  any 
man  in  America  understood  soldier  life  and  a  commander's 
duty,  it  was  General  Jackson.  He  looked  at  it  from  every 
side,  and  such  had  been  the  effect  of  mutiny,  desertion,  and 
disobedience,  that  no  man  ever  more  fully  realized  the  neces- 
sity of  an  example  than  did  General  Jackson. 

As  shown  in  former  articles,  his  soldiers  in  great  bodies 
had  become  mutinous,  and  by  their  conduct  had  left  him 
with  a  few  faithful  followers  in  the  wilderness,  subject  to 
be  shot  by  the  savages  any  day.  The  last  of  the  two  battles 
in  the  excursion,  which  had  just  ended,  no  doubt  greatly 
impressed  General  Jackson  in  his  decision  confirming  the 
action  of  the  court-martial  in  having  Woods  executed.  In 
a  former  article,  it  is  fully  shown  that  the  want  of  discipline 
among  officers  and  men  was  the  main  cause  of  the  disaster 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  161 

resulting  in  the  death  of  several  of  his  bravest  officers  and 
the  wounding  of  General  Coffee. 

The  execution  of  Woods  was,  perhaps,  General  Jackson's 
greatest  trial.  A  man  of  warm  heart,  devoted  to  his  sol- 
diers, and  always,  when  he  could,  excusing  them  for  their 
mistakes ;  yet  he  had  seen  enough  to  know  that  an  example 
had  to  be  made  if  he  kept  his  army  in  condition  for  the  great 
campaign  that  was  just  ahead  of  him.  All  who  have 
written  upon  the  subject,  who  were  in  position  to  know, 
have  shown  how  this  example,  terrible  as  it  was,  affected  the 
army  and  improved  its  condition. 

Immediately  after  this  campaign,  and  as  the  news  came 
back  from  Tennessee,  General  Jackson  became  satisfied  as 
to  the  effect  of  his  letter  and  the  proclamation  of  the  Gov- 
ernor. The  news  from  every  quarter  that  the  State  was 
alive  —  stimulated  by  his  success  —  to  the  need  of  soldiers 
to  finish  the  campaign,  and  such  had  been  the  activity  of  the 
recruiting  officers  put  out  by  the  Governor  and  of  General 
Jacksons'  friends,  under  the  inspiration  of  his  letter,  that  in 
an  incredibly  short  time  he  had  2,000  men  at  Huntsville  on 
the  way  to  him  from  West  Tennessee,  and  2,000  men  from 
East  Tennessee,  and  under  the  influence  of  Hugh  L.  White, 
one  regiment  of  regulars  under  John  Williams,  so  that  from 
darkest  night  he  came  into  brightest  day,  with  4,000  men  to 
fight  the  last  great  battle  with  the  Creek  Nation  —  a  battle 
memorable  in  history,  known  as  the  Battle  of  the  Horse 
Shoe,  and  which  was  probably  the  most  sanguinary  hand-to- 
hand  battle  that  was  ever  fought  on  this  continent. 

The  Indians  had  assembled  at  a  bend  in  the  Tallapoosa 
River,  and  from  the  shape  of  the  bend  the  battle  has  always 
been  known  as  the  Battle  of  the  Horse  Shoe.  Not  only  the 
warriors  of  the  Creek  Nation  were  there,  but  they  had  col- 
lected the  warriors  in  sympathy  with  them  from  other  tribes. 
The  Indians  were  thoroughly  apprised  of  General  Jackson's 
preparations  for  this  final  struggle  for  their  overthrow,  and, 


162  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

carrying  out  the  pledge  made  to  Tecumseh  that  they  would 
show  no  quarter  and  ask  none,  they  assembled  in  this  bend 
of  the  river  and  built  fortifications  from  bank  to  bank,  show- 
ing their  determination  to  make  the  final  stand  against 
General  Jackson's  army,  and  to  cut  themselves  off  from 
retreat. 

General  Jackson  had  left  a  large  part  of  his  force  in  the 
rear  to  hold  what  he  had  already  gained,  but  had  with  him 
about  2,000  men.  Finding  the  condition  of  the  Indians  in 
this  bend  of  the  river,  he  prepared  to  assault  their  breast- 
works, and  in  the  meantime  sent  General  Coffee  with  his 
command  across  the  river  to  get  in  the  rear  and  prevent  the 
escape  of  the  Indians,  if  they  undertook  to  cross. 

The  fight  from  the  breastworks  was  desperate  and  deadly 
on  both  sides  —  the  white  men  on  the  one  side,  and  the 
Indians  on  the  other,  shooting  from  their  portholes.  The 
dead  on  both  sides  were  piled  up;  the  battle  lasted  a  good 
part  of  the  day,  and  until  away  into  the  night.  Not  an 
Indian  asked  for  quarter;  and  after  Jackson's  men  had 
scaled  the  breastworks  and  got  inside,  hundreds  were  killed 
in  the  hand-to-hand  fight.  The  loss  was  severe  in  Jackson's 
army,  but  it  was  destruction  to  the  Creek  Nation,  and  was 
the  end  of  the  campaign. 

One  incident  occurred  during  this  battle  that  marks  the 
beginning  of  a  career  as  romantic  as  that  of  Jackson's.  In 
more  ways  than  as  a  great  victory  in  war  does  this  great 
battle  emphasize  a  page  in  our  history.  It  brought  before 
the  American  people  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that 
modern  civilization  has  produced.  An  obscure  boy,  the 
son  of  a  widow  who  lived  in  Blount  County,  Tennessee,  as 
a  private,  was  in  the  fight ;  and  in  the  hottest  of  the  battle, 
when  men  on  both  sides  were  being  shot  down  through  the 
open  spaces  of  the  Indian  fortifications,  he  mounted  the 
wall  and  jumped  inside  among  the  Indians.  As  he  scaled 
the  wall  he  was  shot  in  the  thigh  with  a  poisoned  arrow, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  163 

making  a  wound  that  lasted  through  his  life.  Others  fol- 
lowed the  example,  and  the  hand-to-hand  fight  commenced 
that  ended  with  breaking  the  power  of  the  Creek  Nation. 
This  brave  boy  was  Sam  Houston. 

Houston  was  brought  back  over  the  wall,  and  the  arrow 
pulled  out  after  several  attempts  had  failed.  General 
Jackson  passed  by  and  saw  his  terrible  wound,  ordered  him 
to  be  taken  to  the  rear,  and  passed  on ;  but  Houston  got  up, 
climbed  over  the  wall,  and  continued  to  fight  to  the  close. 
After  the  battle  his  case  seemed  hopeless.  The  war  being 
now  ended,  so  far  as  the  Creeks  were  concerned,  his  friends, 
on  account  of  his  daring  courage,  carried  him  on  a 
litter  back  to  his  widowed  mother  in  East  Tennessee.  After 
many  months  hanging  between  life  and  death,  he  recovered, 
and  was  made  a  lieutenant  in  the  regular  army  on  the  report 
of  General  Jackson  of  his  bravery.  I  trust  the  Government 
will  never  cease  to  recognize  exceptional  examples  of 
courage  like  this,  and  the  case  of  Hobson  of  the  navy,  and 
of  young  Richard  Walker  in  the  Philippines. 

It  will  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  give  an  outline  of  the 
life  of  General  Houston,  especially  as  his  life  was  so  inter- 
woven with  that  of  Andrew  Jackson.  If  the"  romance  of 
soldier  life,  daring  and  successful,  shall  be  incorporated  into 
American  history  so  as  to  find  a  place  in  the  drama,  Andrew 
Jackson  and  Sam  Houston  will  be  the  stars. 

Sam  Houston  was  born  on  March  2,  1793.  His  father 
died  when  he  was  a  child,  and  on  the  death  of  his  father,  in 
Rockbridge  County,  Virginia,  his  mother  moved  to  Tennes- 
see and  settled  in  Blount  County,  near  the  Cherokee  line. 
He  was  Scotch-Irish,  and  received  but  little  education; 
spent  much  of  his  time  with  the  Indians  when  a  boy,  by  one 
of  whom  he  was  adopted.  These  were  the  Cherokee 
Indians,  for  whom  he  always  had  the  warmest  affection. 
He  studied  law  in  Nashville  in  1818,  commenced  practice 
at  Lebanon,  and  was  made  District  Attorney;  then  was 


164  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

appointed  adjutant  general  of  the  State;  then  was  made 
major  general  of  the  State  militia.  In  1823  he  was  elected 
to  Congress,  and  in  1825  re-elected.  During  his  last  term 
he  fought  a  duel  with  General  White. 

In  1827  he  was  elected  Governor;  soon  afterward  married 
Miss  Allen,  of  Sumner  County,  Tennessee,  from  whom  he 
separated  a  few  weeks  after  the  marriage,  sending  his  resig- 
nation to  the  Senate,  and  writing  a  letter  to  his  father-in- 
law.  He  immediately  left  the  State,  went  up  the  Arkansas 
River  and  settled  among  the  Cherokee  Indians,  a  part  of 
whom  had  gone  to  that  country,  and  made  his  home  with  the 
old  Indian  who  had  once  adopted  him.  He  was  sent  to 
Washington  to  represent  the  Indians  in  a  matter  with  the 
General  Government,  and  went  there  in  the  garb  of  an 
Indian  Chief.  While  in  Washington  he  attacked  one  Stan- 
berry,  a  member  of  Congress,  in  the  street  for  some  insult, 
and  severely  chastised  him.  He  was  brought  before  the 
House  for  contempt,  and  the  doubtful  question  raised  as  to 
whether  an  assault  on  a  member  of  Congress  on  the  street 
was  a  contempt  of  the  House.  He  was  reprimanded  and 
discharged. 

Soon  after  he  made  a  trip  to  Texas,  and  was  elected  to  the 
Convention  which  was  held  to  form  a  Constitution;  then 
helped  to  establish  a  provisional  government,  and  was  made 
commander  in  chief  of  the  Army  of  Texas.  He  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Convention  that  adopted  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  March  2,  1836,  after  which  he  was  again 
elected  commander  in  chief  of  the  army. 

The  Mexicans,  under  Santa  Anna,  began  an  invasion  of 
Texas  with  an  army  of  5,000  strong.  They  murdered  185 
men  at  the  Alamo,  among  whom  and  the  leader,  was  Davy 
Crockett,  who  had  fought  with  Houston  in  the  Battle  of  the 
Horse  Shoe.  The  Mexicans  then  captured  Goliad  and  put 
500  men  to  death.  Houston  collected  an  army  of  750  men, 
part  of  his  militia,  and  attacked  Santa  Anna,  at  San 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  165 

Jacinto,  with  1,800  men.  The  battle  cry  was,  "Remember 
the  Alamo !"  The  fight  lasted  less  than  an  hour.  The  loss 
of  the  Mexicans  was  630  killed ;  730  prisoners  were  taken, 
among  them  Santa  Anna,  who  was  sent  to  the  United  States. 
Houston  was  elected  President  of  the  Republic  of  Texas. 
The  Congress  of  Texas  passed  a  bill  making  him  dictator, 
and  appropriating  a  large  body  of  land  for  the  defense 
against  a  second  invasion  of  Texas.  Houston  vetoed  these 
bills,  and  laid  emphasis  on  the  one  making  him  dictator. 
He  brought  Texas  into  the  Union.  In  1846  Houston 
entered  the  United  States  Senate,  and  served  until  he  was 
elected  Governor  of  the  State.  He  voted  for  all  compro- 
mise measures  during  the  slavery  agitation.  The  State 
seceded,  and  Houston  was  a  Union  man  and  refused  to  take 
the  oath  of  office  required.  In  1840  he  married  Margaret 
Mozett,  having  been  divorced  from  his  first  wife. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  say  that  he  never  disclosed  the 
secret  of  the  separation.  He  wrote  his  father-in-law  the 
next  day  after  the  separation,  taking  the  blame  on  himself. 
Col.  Willoughby  Williams  told  the  writer  that  he  had  a  talk 
with  him  at  the  time  of  the  separation,  and  that  he  did  not 
disclose  its  cause,  and  that  thirty-five  years  afterward  he 
traveled  with  him  on  a  steamboat  for  four  days  and  talked 
of  old  matters,  and  he  did  not  then  disclose  it. 

There  are  two  incidents  in  his  life  which  I  may  especially 
mention. 

During  his  first  term  in  Congress  —  he  represented  the 
Nashville  district  —  he  took  a  fancy  to  a  boy  who  lived  at 
Franklin,  in  Williamson  County,  and  set  about  trying  to  do 
something  for  him.  Legislation  had  been  recently  had  for 
establishing  what  has  since  come  to  be,  and  what  is  known 
as,  the  coast  survey,  and  in  this  he  found  a  place  for  this 
boy,  and  had  him  appointed.  The  occupation  led  the  young 
man  to  the  study  of  the  sea,  the  winds  and  the  currents,  and 


166  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

developed  into  the  greatest,  certainly  the  most  valuable, 
scientist  this  country  has  produced  —  Lieutenant  Maury. 

The  other  incident  in  his  life  was  the  contest  between  him 
and  Mr.  Bell  for  the  nomination  for  the  presidency  in  1860. 
The  convention  met  at  Baltimore.  It  was  called  a  Whig 
Convention,  and  has  always  been  spoken  of  as  the  dying 
struggle  of  that  party.  It  was  not,  properly  speaking,  a 
Whig  Convention;  it  was  a  Union  Convention.  Many  of 
the  Whigs  of  the  Northern  States  had  joined  the  Republican 
party,  but  the  Whigs  of  the  South  were  making  a  desperate 
effort  to  save  the  Union.  The  platform  had  but  nine  words 
in  it:  "The  Union,  the  Constitution,  the  enforcement  of 
the  laws." 

The  divided  ranks  of  the  Democratic  party  made  its 
success  over  the  Republican  party  impossible.  Strong 
Whig  delegations  from  Northern  States  came,  urging  the 
nomination  of  some  great  popular  leader  who  had  always 
been  a  Democrat,  but -was  thoroughly  identified  with  the 
Whigs  in  the  effort  to  save  the  Union.  The  Tennessee 
delegation  was  generally  committed  to  Mr.  Bell.  But 
Texas  put  up  Sam  Houston,  backed  up  by  a  large  and  unan- 
imous delegation  from  New  York.  No  convention  was 
ever  held  where  the  leaders  had  the  cause  more  at  heart. 
The  cry  was  Union  against  disunion.  Tennessee  put  up  as 
her  orator,  Gustavus  A.  Henry,  and  the  papers  announced 
that  he  was  a  descendant  of  the  great  Patrick,  and  as  great 
an  orator.  The  speech  for  "The  Union,  the  Constitution, 
the  enforcement  of  the  laws,"  carried  the  convention  off  its 
feet.  It  was,  perhaps,  the  greatest  speech  that  great  orator 
ever  made.  The  city  was  wild  over  it.  New  York,  500 
strong,  seconded  the  nomination  of  Sam  Houston,  and  put 
up  a  man  named  Gerard.  He  was  stoop-shouldered,  had 
sandy  gray  hair,  a  pale,  chilly  face,  and  looked  as  lifeless  as 
a  Confederate  dollar  bill  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

We  thought  it  was  a  joke,  but  the  New  Yorkers  knew 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  167 

their  man.  He  said :  "We  can't  carry  New  York  with  Mr. 
Bell,  but  we  can  carry  it  for  Sam  Houston,"  electrifying  the 
convention  by  emphasizing  the  "o"  and  adding  the  "e"  to 
the  name.  He  said :  "What  New  York  wanted  in  a  presi- 
dential race  was  a  man  like  Sam  Houston,  that  they  could 
paint  on  one  side  of  their  banners  killing  an  Indian,  and  on 
the  other  side  eating  him  up."  He  drew  the  picture  of 
Houston,  the  boy,  scaling  the  Indian  fortifications  in  the 
great  war,  and  fighting  a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  the 
savage  allies  of  old  England,  in  a  war  which,  he  said,  was  as 
much  a  fight  for  the  Union  as  the  one  we  were  now  making, 
or  as  Washington's  war  was;  then  his  soldier  comrades 
carried  the  boy  back  to  his  mother  on  a  litter.  He  said  the 
country  had  greatly  honored  him  —  the  President  recog- 
nized his  daring  courage.  From  the  very  home  of  the 
immortal  Jackson  the  people  had  sent  him  to  Congress,  and 
he  was  representing  now  the  State  he  had  brought  into  the 
Union  in  the  upper  branch  of  Congress. 

He  drew  a  picture  between  him  and  Corolanus.  He  said : 
"Like  Corolanus,  he  had  gone  out  in  single  combat  against 
the  enemies  of  his  country.  Like  Corolanus,  in  trouble,  he 
left  his  country  and  lived  with  strangers,  leaving  wife  and 
mother.  Like  Corolanus,  he  became  a  great  leader  and 
commander  of  great  armies,  but,  unlike  Corolanus,  who 
brought  back  a  great  army  to  destroy  Rome,  instead,  he 
came  back  into  the  Union  that  was  dearer  than  life,  and 
brought  with  him  the  work  of  his  own  hands,  an  empire, 
and  laid  it  down  in  the  lap  of  the  great  Republic." 

"Give  us  this  man,"  he  said,  "a  man  whose  blood  once 
ran  like  water  in  defense  of  the  Union  now  imperiled ;  the 
man  who  fought  the  Indians  when  they  were  enemies,  and 
then  lived  with  them  when  friends,  taking  the  place  of  a 
chief ;  the  man  who  had  been  Governor  of  two  States ;  the 
man  who  had  drawn  his  sword  in  defense  of  two  Republics, 
been  President  of  one,  and  was  now  on  his  way  to  that  high 


168  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

office  in  the  other.  Give  us  this  man,"  he  said,  "who  now 
puts  his  party  behind  him  and  stands  for  the  Union  —  fights 
all  his  enemies  —  and  carrying  on  his  body  to  this  day  the 
witness  of  the  blood  he  shed  for  it ;  a  man  like  old  Jackson, 
who  knows  no  party  when  enemies  attack  his  beloved  Union. 
Give  us  this  man  and  we  will  decorate  the  city  of  New  York 
with  banners,  paint  it  red,  go  to  the  country,  and  with  the 
emblems  of  devotion  to  the  Union,  sprinkle  the  blood  of  its 
defender  on  the  lintels  of  every  door." 

The  speech,  great  as  it  was,  died  with  the  struggle,  but 
forty  years  leaves  it  ringing  in  my  head.  Bell  was  nomi- 
nated by  a  majority  of  eleven  votes.  The  author  of  these 
memoirs  voted  for  Houston.  The  others  of  the  delegation 
voted  for  Bell,  under  the  lead  of  the  Hon.  Edwin  H.  Ewing, 
who  was  chairman.  If  the  Tennessee  delegation  had  voted 
for  Houston  he  would  have  been  nominated.  In  giving  the 
scene  at  the  Whig  Convention  —  more  especially  the  speech 
of  Gerard,  I  do  not  claim  to  give  the  words  —  only  the 
points  made  and  the  substance.  No  report  was  made  at  the 
time,  but  it  was  a  speech  made  to  save  the  Union,  and  forty- 
two  years  have  not  effaced  its  grandeur. 

Upon  the  calamity  of  separating  from  his  young  wife, 
only  a  few  weeks  after  marriage,  the  first  impulse  of  his 
noble  nature  was  that,  with  a  cloud  upon  his  private  life,  the 
office  of  Governor,  with  which  the  people  had  but  recently 
honored  him,  should  no  longer  be  held  by  him.  This  was 
the  refinement  of  delicacy  in  the  discharge  of  a  public  trust, 
and  uncovering  the  inner  man,  which  is  always  found  in  the 
heart  of  a  truly  great  soldier. 

In  the  Tennessee  Historical  Society  I  have  found,  and 
here  copy,  what  the  present  generation  has  never  seen  —  the 
letter  of  Governor  Houston,  written  the  day  he  separated 
from  his  wife,  resigning  the  office  of  Governor.  The  orig- 
inal is  in  a  small,  round  hand,  signed  in  his  clear,  bold  hand, 
without  an  error  in  spelling  or  punctuation,  and  would 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  169 

pass  for  the  product  of  a  man  of  high  literary  attainments. 
In  sentiment  delicate  in  touching  his  great  family  affliction, 
and  beautifully  remembering  the  nation's  great  soldier,  who 
had  been  more  than  a  father  to  him,  and  in  separating  from 
a  people  who  had  so  honored  him,  no  attainment  in  litera- 
ture could  improve  it : 

"EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,  NASHVILLE,  TENNV 

"i6th  April,  1827. 

"Sir:  —  It  has  become  my  duty  to  resign  the  office  of 
chief  magistrate  of  the  State,  and  to  place  in  your  hands  the 
authority  and  responsibility,  which  on  such  an  event, 
devolves  on  you  by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution. 

"In  dissolving  the  political  connexion  which  has  so  long, 
and  in  such  a  variety  of  forms,  existed  between  the  people 
of  Tennessee  and  myself,  no  private  affliction,  however  deep 
or  incurable,  can  forbid  an  expression  of  the  grateful  recol- 
lections so  eminently  due  to  the  kind  partialities  of  an  indul- 
gent public. 

"From  my  earliest  youth,  whatever  of  talent  was  com- 
mitted to  my  care,  has  been  honestly  cultivated  and  expended 
for  the  common  good ;  and  at  no  period  of  a  life,  which  has 
certainly  been  marked  by  a  full  portion  of  interesting  events, 
have  any  views  of  private  interest  or  private  ambition  been 
permitted  to  mingle  in  the  higher  duties  of  public  trust. 

"In  reviewing  the  past  I  can  only  regret  that  my  capacity 
for  being  useful  was  so  unequal  to  the  devotion  of  my  heart, 
and  it  is  one  of  the  few  consolations  of  my  life,  that  even 
had  I  been  blessed  with  ability  equal  to  my  zeal,  my  coun- 
try's generous  support  in  every  vicissitude  of  life  has  been 
more  than  equal  to  them  both. 

"That  veneration  for  public  opinion  by  which  I  have 
measured  every  act  of  my  official  life,  has  taught  me  to  hold 
no  delegated  power  which  would  not  daily  be  renewed  by 
my  constituents,  could  the  choice  be  daily  submitted  to  a 
sensible  expression  of  their  will. 

"And  although  shielded  by  a  perfect  consciousness  of 
undiminished  claim  to  the  confidence  and  support  of  my 
fellow  citizens,  and  delicately  circumstanced  as  I  am  and 
by  my  own  misfortunes  more  than  the  fault  or  contrivance 


170  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

of  any  one,  overwhelmed  by  sudden  calamities,  it  is  certainly 
due  to  myself  and  more  respectful  to  the  world,  that  I  retire 
from  a  position,  which,  in  the  public  judgment,  I  might 
seem  to  occupy  by  questionable  authority. 

"It  yields  me  no  small  share  of  comfort,  so  far  as  I  am 
able  of  taking  comfort  from  any  circumstance,  that  in 
resigning  my  executive  charge,  I  am  placing  it  in  the  hands 
of  one  whose  integrity  and  worth  have  been  long  tried ;  who 
understands  and  will  peruse  the  true  interests  of  the  State; 
and  who  in  the  hour  of  success  and  in  the  hour  of  adversity 
has  been  the  consistent  and  valued  friend  of  the  great  and 
good  man,  now  enjoying  the  triumph  of  his  virtues  in  the 
conscious  security  of  a  nation's  gratitude. 

"SAM  HOUSTON. 

"Gen.  William  Hall,  Speaker  of  the  Senate,  Tennessee" 

There  is  a  refined  delicacy  in  this  letter,  that  will  be  a 
new  chapter  in  the  life  of  Sam  Houston  to  all  who  have 
misinterpreted  his  character. 

But  there  is  in  addition  a  sentiment  involving  a  political 
principle,  which  I  believe  has  not  been  expressed  by  any 
other  man  holding  office ;  that  is : 

"That  veneration  of  public  opinion  by  which  I  have 
measured  every  act  of  my  public  official  life  has  taught  me 
to  hold  no  delegated  power  which  would  not  be  daily 
renewed  by  my  constituents,  could  the  choice  be  daily  sub- 
mitted to  a  sensible  expression  of  their  will." 

After  the  Battle  of  the  Horse  Shoe,  Jackson  prepared  and 
read  to  the  army  the  following  address : 

"You  have  entitled  yourselves  to  the  gratitude  of  your 
country  and  your  General.  The  expedition  from  which  you 
have  just  returned  has,  by  your  good  conduct,  been  rendered 
prosperous  beyond  any  example  in  the  history  of  our  war- 
fare; it  has  redeemed  the  character  of  your  State,  and  of 
that  description  of  troops  of  which  the  greater  part  of 
you  are. 

"You  have  within  a  few  days  opened  your  way  to  the 
Tallapoosa  and  destroyed  a  confederacy  of  the  enemy,  fero- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  171 

cious  by  nature,  and  who  have  grown  insolent  from  impu- 
nity. Relying  on  their  numbers,  the  security  of  their 
situation,  and  the  assurances  of  their  prophets,  they  derided 
our  approach,  and  already  exulted  in  anticipation  of  the 
victory  they  expected  to  obtain.  But  they  were  ignorant 
of  the  influence  and  effect  of  government  on  the  human 
powers,  nor  knew  what  brave  men,  and  civilized,  could 
effect.  By  their  yells  they  hoped  to  frighten  us,  and  with 
their  wooden  fortifications  to  oppose  us.  Stupid  mortals; 
their  yells  but  designated  their  situation  the  more  certainly, 
while  their  walls  became  a  snare  for  their  own  destruction. 
So  will  it  ever  be,  when  presumption  and  ignorance  con- 
tend against  bravery  and  prudence. 

"The  fiends  of  the  Tallapoosa  will  no  longer  murder  our 
women  and  children,  or  disturb  the  quiet  of  our  borders. 
Their  midnight  flambeaux  will  no  longer  illume  their  coun- 
cil house,  or  shine  upon  the  victim  of  their  infernal  orgies. 
In  their  places  a  new  generation  will  rise,  who  will  know 
their  duty  better.  The  weapons  of  warfare  will  be  exchanged 
for  the  utensils  of  husbandry;  and  the  wilderness,  which 
now  withers  in  sterility,  and  mourns  the  desolation  which 
overspreads  her,  will  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  become  the 
nursery  of  the  arts.  But  before  this  happy  day  can  arrive 
other  chastisements  remain  to  be  inflicted.  It  is,  indeed, 
lamentable  that  the  path  to  peace  should  lead  through  blood 
and  over  the  bodies  of  the  slain ;  but  it  is  a  dispensation  of 
Providence,  and  a  wise  one,  to  inflict  partial  evils  that  ulti- 
mate good  may  be  produced. 

"Our  enemies  are  not  sufficiently  humbled  —  they  do  not 
sue  for  peace.  A  collection  of  them  awaits  our  approach, 
and  remain  to  be  dispersed.  Buried  in  ignorance,  and 
seduced  by  the  false  pretenses  of  their  prophets,  they  have 
the  weakness  to  believe  they  will  still  be  able  to  make  a 
decided  stand  against  us.  They  must  be  undeceived,  and 
made  to  atone  their  obstinacy  and  their  crimes  by  still  fur- 
ther suffering.  Those  hopes  which  have  so  long  deluded 
them  must  be  driven  from  their  last  refuge.  They  must 
be  made  to  know  their  prophets  are  imposters,  and  that  our 
strength  is  mighty  and  will  prevail.  Then,  and  not  till  then, 
may  we  expect  to  make  wfth  them  a  peace  that  shall  be 
permanent." 


172  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Most  men  would  have  rested  on  this  great  victory,  the 
Battle  of  the  Horse  Shoe,  but  his  address  shows  that  Jack- 
son considered  nothing  done  till  all  was  done.  News  had 
been  brought  in  that  the  scattered  Indians  were  preparing 
to  make  another  stand  at  the  junction  of  the  Coosa  and 
Tallapoosa,  known  as  the  Indian's  Holy  Ground,  where  the 
prophets  said  that  no  white  man  could  come  and  live.  And 
sinking  his  own  dead  in  the  river  to  save  the  bodies  from 
mutilation,  and  leaving  750  dead  Indians  on  the  ground, 
and  with  a  long  train  of  wagons  carrying  his  wounded,  he 
the  next  day  after  the  battle,  moved  back  to  Fort  Williams ; 
then  rapidly  collected  supplies  and  moved  on  the  "Holy 
Ground,"  a  march  of  five  days.  The  rains  had  made  all 
the  swamps  lakes  of  water,  and  the  creeks  were  all  over- 
flowing the  banks.  Reaching  the  Holy  Ground,  Jackson 
found  as  a  fact  that  the  war  was  over.  Fourteen  chiefs  had 
come  in  to  surrender,  all  asking  for  peace,  and  offering 
every  assurance  of  a  peaceful  purpose.  Jackson  sent  them 
back  to  Fort  Williams,  but  demanded  that  they  should 
surrender  Weatherford,  the  supposed  leader  in  the  Fort 
Mimms  massacre.  The  fact  was  not  then  known  that 
Weatherford,  though  a  leader  in  the  war  movement,  did  all 
in  his  power  and  risked  his  own  life  in  an  effort  to  prevent 
the  horrible  massacre  at  Fort  Mimms. 

It  may  be  well  to  note  here  that  Jackson,  by  these  com- 
plete victories  over  the  most  powerful  tribe  of  Indians  of 
the  continent,  practically  ended  Indian  wars;  the  Indians 
ceased  to  be  a  power  in  war.  These  great  victories  thrilled 
the  American  people,  and  as  soon  as  the  news  got  to  Europe 
the  British  Commissioners  at  Ghent  came  to  their  senses 
and  no  longer  demanded  a  large  part  of  our  territory,  with 
rights  on  the  Mississippi  River. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  173 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

JACKSON     REACHES     THE     HOLY     GROUND AN     EXCITING 

SCENE    WITH    WEATHERFORD,    THE    INDIAN     CHIEF A 

SKETCH    OF   DAVY    CROCKETT    WITH    FACTS   ABOUT    THE 
AWFUL   MASSACRE  AT  THE  ALAMO. 

THE  Creek  War  having  been  ended  by  the  Battle  of 
the  Horse  Shoe  —  practically  ended  —  as  shown  in 
a  former  chapter,  the  chiefs  a  few  days  after  coming 
in  and  giving  up  at  the  Holy  Ground,  and,  being  required 
to  bring  in  Weatherford,  that  brave  Indian  out  in  the  woods 
did  not  wait  to  be  brought  in,  but  from  Eaton's  "Life  of 
Jackson"  and  Pickett's  "History  of  Alabama,"  I  gather  the 
following  facts  about  Weatherford : 

Weatherford  spared  his  brother  chiefs  the  hazard  of 
attempting  his  capture.  His  well-known  surrender  was  one 
of  the  most  striking  incidents  of  the  War  of  1812.  Indeed, 
I  know  not  where,  in  ancient  legend  or  modern  history,  in 
epic  poem  or  tragic  drama,  to  find  a  scene  more  worthy  to 
be  called  sublime  than  that  which  now  occurred  between  this 
great  chief  and  the  conqueror  of  his  tribe.  And  though  it 
reads  more  like  a  scene  in  one  of  our  Indian  plays  than  the 
record  of  a  fact,  it  has  the  advantage  of  being  perfectly  welt 
attested.  Weatherford's  father  was  one  of  the  class  called 
in  the  olden  time  Indian-country  men  —  that  is,  white  inhab- 
itants of  the  Indian  country.  He  was  a  roving  trader 
among  the  Creeks ;  married  an  Indian  woman  of  the  fierce 
Seminole  tribe ;  accumulated  property ;  possessed  at  length 
a  plantation  and  negroes ;  became  noted  as  a  breeder  of  fine 
horses,  and  won  prizes  on  the  Alabama  turf.  His  son 
William  inherited  his  father's  property,  his  father's  love  of 


174  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

horses,  his  father's  thrift  and  strength  of  character,  but  he 
drew  from  his  Seminole  mother  something  of  the  fierceness 
and  taciturn  grandeur  of  demeanor  which  belonged  to  the 
chiefs  of  her  warlike  tribe.  lie  identified  himself  at  all 
times  with  the  Indians ;  his  tastes  and  pursuits  were  Indian ; 
he  gloried  in  being  an  Indian  chief.  He  hunted  bear  with 
the  passion  and  skill  of  Tecumseh  and  Davy  Crockett.  The 
white  men  who  were  in  later  years  his  neighbors  and  asso- 
ciates, represent  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  honor  and 
humanity.  They  looked  upon  him  as  a  patriot  who  had 
done  what  he  could  to  preserve  the  independent  sovereignty 
of  his  tribe,  and  whose  hands  were  not  stained  by  blood 
dishonorably  shed. 

That  bold  march  across  the  wilderness  brought  the  con- 
queror of  the  Creeks  to  the  Holy  Ground  itself,  and  at  his 
approach  the  force  under  Weatherford  melted  away,  leaving 
him  alone  in  the  forest  with  a  multitude  of  women  and  chil- 
dren, whom  the  war  had  made  widows  and  orphans,  and 
who  were  perishing  for  want  of  food.  To  this  sad  extrem- 
ity had  Weatherford  brought  the  tribe.  Then  it  was  that 
he  gave  that  shining  example  of  humanity  and  heroism  that 
ought  to  immortalize  his  name.  He  might  have  fled  with 
others  of  the  war  party  to  Florida,  where  welcome  and  pro- 
tection awaited  him.  He  chose  to  remain  and  to  attempt  by 
the  sacrifice  of  his  own  life  to  save  from  imminent  starvation 
the  women  and  children  whose  natural  protectors  he  had  led 
or  urged  to  their  death. 

Mounting  his  gray  steed,  he  directed  his  course  to  Jack- 
son's camp,  in  the  peninsula  formed  by  the  confluence  of  the 
Coosa  and  the  Tallapoosa.  The  General  had  planted  his 
colors  upon  the  site  of  the  old  French  Fort  Toulose,  erected 
by  Governor  Blenville  a  hundred  years  before.  The  French 
trenches  were  cleared  of  the  accumulated  rubbish  of  a  cen- 
tury, a  stockade  was  erected  in  the  American  manner,  and 
the  place  named  Fort  Jackson.  The  two  rivers  approach 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  175 

at  that  point  to  within  600  yards  of  each  other,  and  then, 
diverging,  unite  four  miles  below. 

The  hunting  instinct  must  have  been  strong  indeed  in 
Weatherford,  for,  when  he  was  only  a  few  miles  from  Fort 
Jackson,  a  fine  deer  crossing  his  path  and  stopping  within 
shooting  distance,  he  could  not  resist  the  temptation,  but 
shot  the  deer  and  placed  it  on  his  horse  behind  his  saddle. 
Reloading  his  rifle  with  two  balls,  for  the  purpose,  as  he 
afterwards  said,  of  shooting  the  "Big  Warrior,"  who,  on 
seeing  Weatherford,  cried  out  in  an  insulting  tone,  "Ah! 
Bill  Weatherford,  have  we  got  you  at  last  ?" 

With  a  glance  of  fire  at  the  insulter,  Weatherford  replied, 
"You  traitor !  If  you  give  me  any  insolence  I  will  blow  a 
ball  through  your  cowardly  heart!" 

General  Jackson  now  came  running  out  of  the  tent,  accom- 
panied by  Colonel  Hawkins,  the  agent  of  the  Creeks. 

"How  dare  you,"  exclaimed  the  General,  in  a  furious 
manner,  "ride  up  to  my  tent  after  having  murdered  the 
women  and  children  at  Fort  Mimms  ?" 

Weatherford  replied,  according  to  his  own  recollection  of 
it,  as  follows : 

"General  Jackson,  I  am  not  afraid  of  you.  I  fear  no 
man,  for  I  am  a  Creek  warrior.  I  have  nothing  to  request 
in  behalf  of  myself.  You  can  kill  me  if  you  desire.  But  I 
come  to  ask  you  to  send  for  the  women  and  children  of  the 
war  party,  who  are  now  starving  in  the  woods.  Their  fields 
and  cribs  have  been  destroyed  by  your  people,  who  have 
driven  them  to  the  woods  without  an  ear  of  corn.  I  hope 
that  you  will  send  out  parties  who  will  conduct  them  safely 
here,  in  order  that  they  may  be  fed.  I  exerted  myself  in 
vain  to  prevent  the  massacre  of  the  women  and  children  at 
Fort  Mimms.  I  am  now  done  fighting.  The  Red  Sticks 
are  nearly  all  killed.  If  I  could  fight  you  any  longer,  I 
would  most  heartily  do  so.  Send  for  the  women  and  chil- 
dren. They  never  did  you  any  harm.  But  kill  me,  if  the 
white  people  want  it  done." 


176  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

When  he  ceased  speaking  a  great  crowd  of  officers  and 
soldiers  had  gathered  around  the  tent.  Accustomed  now 
for  many  months  to  associate  the  name  of  Weatherford  with 
the  oft-told  horrors  of  the  massacre,  and  imperfectly  com- 
prehending what  was  going  forward,  the  troops  cast  upon 
the  chief  glances  of  hatred  and  aversion.  Many  of  them 
cried  out : 

"Kill  him!"     "Kill  him!"     "Kill  him!" 

"Silence!"  exclaimed  Jackson,  and  the  clamor  was 
hushed.  "Any  man,"  added  the  General,  with  great  energy, 
"who  would  kill  as  brave  a  man  as  this  would  rob  the  dead." 

He  then  invited  Weatherford  to  alight  and  enter  his  tent, 
which  the  chief  did,  bringing  in  with  him  the  deer  he  had 
killed  on  the  way,  and  presenting  it  to  the  General.  Jackson 
accepted  the  gift,  invited  Weatherford  to  drink  a  glass  of 
brandy,  and  entered  into  a  frank  and  friendly  conversation 
with  him.  The  remainder  of  the  interview  rests  upon  the 
authority  of  Major  Eaton,  who,  Mr.  Pickett  thinks,  based 
this  portion  of  his  narrative  "entirely  upon  camp  gossip." 
But  I  am  sure  Eaton  must  have  heard  the  story  many  times 
from  Jackson  himself,  and,  though  he  may  have  added  to 
the  tale  a  slight  presidential  campaign  flavor,  there  is  no 
good  reason  to  doubt  its  general  correctness. 

"The  terms  upon  which  your  nation  can  be  saved,"  said 
the  General,  "have  been  already  disclosed ;  in  that  way,  and 
none  other,  can  you  obatin  safety.  If  you  wish  to  continue 
the  war,"  Jackson  added,  "you  are  at  liberty  to  depart 
unharmed;  but  if  you  desire  peace,  you  may  remain,  and 
you  shall  be  protected." 

Weatherford  replied  that  he  desired  peace  in  order  that 
his  nation  might  be  relieved  of  their  sufferings,  and  the 
women  and  children  saved.  "There  was  a  time,"  he  said, 
"when  I  had  a  choice  and  could  have  answered  you ;  I  have 
none  now ;  even  hope  has  ended.  Once  I  could  animate  my 
warriors  to  battle,  but  I  cannot  animate  the  dead.  My  war- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  177 

riors  can  no  longer  hear  my  voice ;  their  homes  are  at  Talla- 
dega,  Tallushatche,  Emuckfau,  and  Tohopeka.  I  have  not 
surrendered  myself  thoughtlessly.  Whilst  there  were 
chances  of  success,  I  have  never  left  my  post,  nor  supplicated 
peace.  But  my  people  are  gone,  and  I  now  ask  it  for  the 
nation  and  myself.  On  the  miseries  and  misfortunes 
brought  upon  my  country  I  look  back  with  deepest  sorrow, 
and  wish  to  avert  still  greater  calamities.  If  I  had  been  left 
to  contend  with  the  Georgia  army,  I  would  have  raised  my 
corn  on  one  bank  of  the  river  and  fought  them  on  the  other ; 
but  your  people  have  destroyed  my  nation.  You  are  a  brave 
man;  I  rely  upon  your  generosity.  You  will  exact  no 
terms  of  a  conquered  people  but  such  as  they  should  accede 
to;  whatever  they  may  be,  it  would  now  be  madness  and 
folly  to  oppose.  If  they  are  opposed,  you  shall  find  me 
among  the  sternest  enforcers  of  obedience.  Those  who 
would  still  hold  out  can  be  influenced  only  by  a  mean  spirit 
of  revenge ;  and  to  this  they  must  not,  and  shall  not,  sacrifice 
the  last  remnant  of  their  country.  You  have  told  our  nation 
where  we  might  go  and  be  safe.  This  is  a  good  talk,  and 
they  ought  to  listen  to  it.  They  shall  listen  to  it." 

The  interview  concluded.  For  a  short  time  Weather- 
ford  remained  at  Fort  Jackson,  and  then  retired  to  his  plan- 
tation upon  Little  Bear. 

When  the  war  was  over,  Weatherford  again  became  a 
planter  and  lived  many  years  with  white  men  and  red  upon 
a  good  farm,  "well  supplied  with  negroes,"  in  Monroe 
County,  Alabama.  "He  maintained,"  adds  the  historian  of 
that  State,  "an  excellent  character  and  was  much  respected 
by  the  American  residents  for  his  bravery,  honor,  and 
strong  native  good  sense.  He  died  in  1826,  from  the  fa- 
tigue produced  by  a  "desperate  bear  hunt." 

Intending,  in  the  course  of  work  I  am  now  doing,  not 
only  to  put  General  Jackson  before  the  world  in  his  true 
character  as  the  greatest  captain  of  his  time,  and  the  boldest 


178  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

and  most  far-seeing  statesman  this  country  has  produced, 
but,  as  far  as  time  and  space  will  allow,  to  bring  before  the 
present  generation  such  other  Tennesseans  whose  patriotic 
services  in  the  field  or  in  council,  entitle  them  to  a  place  in 
the  history  of  my  beloved  State,  I  shall  stop  here  in  the  gen- 
eral work  and  introduce  a  man  whom  I  may  appropriately 
call  the  "Wizard  of  the  Woods." 

No  life  of  Jackson  and  no  sketch  of  Sam  Houston  can 
be  made  satisfactory  by  leaving  out  Davy  Crockett,  a  bear- 
hunter  by  trade,  a  daring  Indian  fighter  when  soldiers  were 
needed,  a  member  of  Congress  for  diversion,  and  as  true  a 
patriot  as  was  ever  shot  to  death  by  cowards  who  killed  pris- 
oners. Crockett  was  born  in  Washington  County,  Tennes- 
see ;  ran  away  from  home  when  a  boy  and  settled  in  Lincoln 
County ;  then  moved  to  Franklin  County,  and  at  Winchester 
joined  a  company  for  the  Creek  War,  having  probably  been 
in  the  Natchez  campaign  as  a  boy.  He  went  out  with  the 
first  campaign,  but  re-enlisted  and  went  out  with  the  second. 
He  was  under  Coffee  and  made  a  splendid  soldier.  After 
the  war  he  moved  to  Lawrence  County ;  then  he  was  one  of 
the  first  settlers  in  West  Tennessee,  and  was  twice  elected 
to  Congress,  and  once  defeated  by  Adam  Huntsman. 

His  biographers  have  sought  unwittingly,  as  I  think, 
to  profit  by  making  him  a  much  more  illiterate  man  than  he 
was.  He  made  several  sound,  strong  speeches  in  Congress 
on  practical  subjects,  which  were  reported  at  the  time.  He 
was  undoubtedly  the  Tennessee  Daniel  Boone,  and  always 
moved  when  he  could  not  cut  trees  for  firewood  in  the  yard. 
His  diversion,  when  not  hunting,  was  getting  up  shooting 
matches  and  winning  beef.  For  a  good  many  years  his 
most  dangerous  competitor  for  shooting  matches  was 
John  A.  Murrel. 

Col.  Robert  I.  Chester  told  me  that  he  had  stayed 
all  night  with  him  when  he  was  a  member  of  Congress, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  179 

and  that  he  lived  in  a  little  cabin  with  a  dirt  floor,  except 
some  bear  skins  spread  down,  on  which  the  children  slept. 

When  the  people  of  Texas  began  to  talk  about  inde- 
pendence, setting  up  their  own  government,  and  Mexico 
commenced  raising  troops  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  Crock- 
ett left  Tennessee,  as  Houston  left  the  Indian  Nation,  and 
went  to  aid  in  the  struggle.  He  was  soon,  with  others, 
many  of  them  Tennesseans,  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight. 
They  were  at  the  town  of  Bexar — about  130  men.  Some 
others  came  in  after,  making  perhaps  185  men,  and  finding 
that  they  were  being  surrounded  by  Santa  Anna's  army, 
they  moved  into  the  old  Spanish  fortress  of  Alamo.  Every 
man  of  them  perished,  but,  fortunately,  for  the  history  of 
that  dreadful  episode  of  war,  Davy  Crockett  kept  a  diary, 
which  was  found.  This  diary  shows  that  on  the  22d  of 
February,  1836,  the  Mexicans,  about  1,600  strong,  with 
their  President,  Santa  Anna,  at  their  head,  aided  by  Gen- 
erals Almonte,  Cos,  Sesma,  and  Castrillon,  were  within  two 
leagues  of  Bexar.  Some  of  the  scouts  came  in  and  brought 
reports  that  Santa  Anna  had  been  endeavoring  to  excite 
the  Indians  to  hostilities  against  the  Texans,  but  so  far 
without  effect.  February  23d  shows  that: 

"Early  this  morning  the  enemy  came  in  sight,  marching 
in  regular  order,  and  displaying  their  strength  to  the  great- 
est advantage  in  order  to  strike  us  with  terror.  But  that 
was  no  go ;  they'll  find  that  they  will  have  to  do  with  men 
who  will  never  lay  down  their  arms  as  long  as  they  can 
stand  on  their  legs.  We  held  a  short  council  of  war,  and, 
finding  that  we  would  be  completely  surrounded  and  over- 
whelmed by  numbers  if  we  remained  in  town,  we  concluded 
to  withdraw  to  the  fortress  of  Alamo  and  defend  it  to  the 
last  extremity.  As  soon  as  our  little  band,  about  150  in 
number,  had  entered  and  put  the  fortress  in  the  best  possible 
manner,  we  set  about  raising  our  flag  on  the  battlements; 
on  which  occasion  there  was  no  one  more  anxious  than  my 


180  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

young  friend,  the  bee-hunter.  He  had  been  all  along 
sprightly,  cheerful  and  spirited,  but  now,  notwithstanding 
the  control  that  he  usually  maintained  over  himself,  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  he  kept  his  enthusiasm  within  bounds. 
As  soon  as  we  commenced  raising  the  flag  he  burst  forth, 
in  a  clear,  full  tone  of  voice,  that  made  the  blood  tingle  in 
the  veins  of  all  who  heard  him : 

"Up  with  your  banner,  Freedom, 
Thy  champions  cling  to  thee ; 
They'll  follow  where  you'll  lead  'em, 
To  death  or  victory — 

Up  with  your  banner,  Freedom. 

"Tyrants  and  slaves  are  rushing 

To  tread  thee  in  the  dust; 
Their  blood  will  soon  be  gushing, 
And  stain  our  knives  with  rust — 
But  not  thy  banner,  Freedom. 

"While  stars  and  stripes  are  flying, 
Our  blood  we'll  freely  shed ; 
No  groan  will  'scape  the  dying, 
Seeing  thee  o'er  his  head — 

Up  with  your  banner,  Freedom." 

"This  song  was  followed  by  three  cheers  from  all  within 
the  fortress,  and  the  drums  and  trumpets  commenced  play- 
ing. The  enemy  marched  into  Bexar  and  took  possession 
of  the  town,  a  blood-red  flag  flying  at  their  head,  to  indi- 
cate that  we  need  not  expect  quarter  if  we  should  fall  into 
their  clutches.  In  the  afternoon  a  messenger  was  sent  to 
Colonel  Travis,  demanding  an  unconditional  and  absolute 
surrender  of  the  garrison,  threatening  to  put  every  man  to 
the  sword  in  case  of  refusal.  The  only  answer  he  received 
was  a  cannon  shot;  so  the  messenger  left  us  with  a  flea  in 
his  ear,  and  the  Mexicans  commenced  firing  grenades  at 
us,  but  without  doing  any  mischief.  At  night  Colonel 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  181 

Travis  sent  an  express  to  Colonel  Fanning,  at  Goliad,  about 
three  or  four  days  march  from  this  place,  to  let  him  know 
that  we  were  besieged." 

February  25th  shows  that,  "The  firing  commenced  early 
this  morning,  but  the  Mexicans  are  poor  soldiers,  for  we 
haven't  lost  a  single  man  and  our  outworks  have  sustained 
no  injury.  Our  sharpshooters  have  brought  down  a  con- 
siderable number  of  stragglers  at  a  long  shot." 

February  26th  shows  that,  "Colonel  Bowie  has  been 
taken  sick  from  overexertion  and  exposure.  He  did  not 
leave  his  bed  today  until  twelve  o'clock.  He  is  worth  a 
dozen  common  men  in  a  situation  like  ours.  The  bee-hunter 
keeps  the  whole  garrison  in  good  heart  with  his  songs." 

February  2/th  shows  that,  "The  cannonading  began  early 
this  morning  and  ten  bombs  were  thrown  into  the  fort,  but 
fortunately  exploded  without  doing  any  mischief.  So 
far  it  has  been  a  sort  of  tempest  within  a  teapot,  not  unlike 
a  pitched  battle  in  a  hall  of  Congress,  where  the  parties 
array  their  forces,  make  dreadful  demonstrations  on  both 
sides,  then  fire  away  with  loud-sounding  speeches,  which 
contain  about  as  much  as  a  howitzer  charged  with  a  blank 
cartridge." 

February  28th  shows  that,  "Last  night  our  hunters 
brought  in  some  corn,  and  had  a  brush  with  scouts  from  the 
enemy  beyond  the  gunshot  of  the  fort.  They  put  the  scouts 
to  flight  and  got  within  without  injury.  They  bring  ac- 
count that  the  settlers  are  flying  in  all  quarters  in  dismay, 
leaving  their  possessions  to  the  ruthless  invader,  who  is 
literally  engaged  in  a  war  of  extermination  more  brutal 
than  the  untutored  savage  of  the  desert  could  be  guilty  of. 
Slaughter  is  indiscriminate,  sparing  neither  sex,  age,  nor 
condition." 

February  29th  shows  that,  "The  enemy  had  planted  a 
piece  of  ordnance  within  gunshot  of  the  fort  during  the 


182  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

night,  and  the  first  thing  in  the  morning  they  commenced 
a  brisk  cannonade,  point  blank  against  the  spot  where  I 
was  snoring.  I  turned  out  pretty  smart  and  mounted  the 
rampart.  The  gun  was  charged  again,  a  fellow  stepped 
forth  to  touch  her  off,  but  before  he  could  apply  the  match 
I  let  him  have  it,  and  he  keeled  over.  A  second  stepped  up; 
snatched  the  match  from  the  hand  of  the  dying  man,  but 
Thimblerig,  who  had  followed  me,  handing  me  his  rifle, 
and  the  next  instant  the  Mexican  was  stretched  on  the  earth 
beside  the  first.  A  third  came  up  to  the  cannon,  my  com- 
panion handed  me  another  gun,  and  I  fixed  him  off  in  like 
manner.  A  fourth,  then  a  fifth,  seized  the  match,  who  both 
met  with  the  same  fate,  and  then  the  whole  party  gave  it 
up  as  a  bad  job,  and  hurried  off  to  camp,  leaving  the  cannon 
ready  charged  where  they  had  planted  it.  I  came  down, 
took  my  bitters,  and  went  to  breakfast." 

March  ist  shows  that,  "The  enemy's  forces  have  been 
increasing  in  numbers  daily,  notwithstanding  they  have  al- 
ready lost  about  three  hundred  men  in  the  several  assaults 
they  have  made  upon  us." 

March  the  2d  shows  that,  "This  day  the  delegates  meet 
in  general  convention  at  the  town  of  Washington  to  frame 
our  declaration  of  independence.  That  the  sacred  instru- 
ment may  never  be  trampled  on  by  the  children  of  those  who 
have  freely  shed  their  blood  to  establish  it,  is  the  sincere 
wish  of  Davy  Crockett.  Universal  independence  is  an  al- 
mighty idea,  far  too  extensive  for  some  brains  to  compre- 
hend. It  is  a  beautiful  seed  that  germinates  rapidly,  and 
brings  forth  a  large  and  vigorous  tree,  but,  like  the  deadly 
upas,  we  sometimes  find  that  smaller  plants  wither  and  die 
in  its  shade." 

March  3d  shows  that,  "We  have  given  over  all  hopes  of 
receiving  assistance  from  Goliad  or  Refugio.  Colonel 
Travis  harangued  the  garrison,  and  concluded  by  exhort- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  183 

ing  them,  in  case  the  enemy  should  carry  the  fort,  to  fight 
to  the  last  gasp,  and  render  their  victory  even  more  serious 
to  them  than  to  us.  This  was  followed  by  three  cheers." 

March  4th  shows  that,  "Shells  have  been  falling  into 
the  fort  like  hail  during  the  day,  but  without  effect." 

March  5th  shows  that,  "Pop,  pop,  pop,  boom,  boom, 
boom,  throughout  the  day.  No  time  for  memorandums 
now.  Go  ahead.  Liberty  and  independence  forever." 

These  are  the  last  words  that  immortal  Tennessee  hero 
ever  wrote. 

This  reference  to  Davy  Crockett  may  seem  a  digression, 
but  in  writing  the  life  of  General  Jackson  I  am  interested 
in  getting  out,  and  giving  a  true  history  of  the  people  and 
their  character — and  especially  as  soldiers — of  the  men  of 
the  Southwest. 

I  know  of  nothing  in  song  or  story  that  excels  in  cour- 
age and  coolness,  in  the  hour  of  death,  this  report  made 
by  Davy  Crockett  of  himself  and  his  men  as  they  surren- 
dered themselves  to  an  infuriated  army,  to  be  put  to  death 
under  conditions  then  existing. 


184  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

ENDING    OF    THE     CREEK     CAMPAIGN JACKSON     MADE    A 

MAJOR  GENERAL  IN   THE  UNITED   STATES  ARMY THE 

RESULTS  OF  THIS  CAMPAIGN ALABAMA  HISTORIAN  ON 

THE  FIGHTING  QUALITY  OF  THE  INDIANS. 

IT  will  be  remembered  that  Crockett's  diary  closed  with 
the  5th  of  March  —  when  the  final  assault  was  made 
by  Santa  Anna  on  the  fortress.  From  an  old  woman,  a 
colored  servant,  of  Colonel  Travis,  the  only  inmate  of  the 
Alamo  that  survived,  and  from  prisoners  captured  by  Hous- 
ton a  few  days  after,  a  careful  and  extended  sketch  of  all 
that  took  place  at  the  Alamo,  and  in  the  murder  of  Fanning 
and  his  men,  with  a  spirited  account  of  Houston's  great 
victory  over  Santa  Anna  in  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  was 
made.  This  is  of  special  interest,  because  of  the  graphic 
picture  and  of  the  part  two  of  General  Jackson's  disciples 
took  in  it,  and  especially  because  one  man,  trained  under 
Jackson,  knew  how,  as  a  soldier,  to  die,  and  another,  trained 
under  him,  knew  how  to  win  a  victory;  but  it  is  American 
history,  and  not  appropriate  in  the  life  of  Jackson. 

Sevier,  Campbell  and  Shelby,  after  getting  to  the  top  of 
King's  Mountain,  whipped  the  British  in  less  than  an  hour, 
killing  and  capturing  an  army  twice  the  size  of  their  own. 
Jackson,  at  New  Orleans,  had  the  British  retreating  in 
twenty-five  minutes,  with  1,500  dead  on  the  field;  and  Sam 
Houston,  at  San  Jacinto,  with  750  men,  fighting  1,500 
Mexicans,  killed  and  captured  in  less  than  an  hour  the  entire 
army  of  Santa  Anna.  Who  will  say  that  the  Tennesseans 
in  the  olden  times  were  not  soldiers? 

There  is  nothing  in  American  history,  perhaps,  more 
interesting  than  the  details  of  what  took  place  after  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  185 

terrible  massacre  at  the  Alamo.  There  is  certainly  nothing 
connected  with  our  wars  more  dreadful  in  the  details  than 
what  followed  the  Alamo — the  murder  of  Fanning  and  his 
men  and  the  terrible  ferocity  of  the  Mexicans,  following 
which  comes  what  more  than  anything  else  illustrates  the 
character  of  General  Sam  Houston  in  raising  an  army, 
destroying  Santa  Anna's  army,  and  taking  Santa  Anna  a 
prisoner. 

In  the  original  preparation  of  this  work  I  had  embraced 
all  the  facts,  simply  because  Sam  Houston  and  Davy 
Crockett  had  been  soldiers  under  General  Jackson,  and  had 
their  training  under  him;  but  it  is,  perhaps,  foreign  to  this 
work,  while  it  is  truly  a  part  of  American  history,  there- 
fore it  is  now  left  out. 

Believing  that  General  Jackson's  campaign  against  the 
Creek  Indians  has  had  no  fair  showing  in  American  his- 
tory, I  am  not  willing  to  close  this  part  of  the  work  by  a 
mere  recital  of  its  events.  Two  causes  have  conspired  to 
obscure  this  epoch  in  General  Jackson's  life.  One  was, 
the  great  victory  over  the  British,  a  few  months  after  the 
Creek  campaign  closed,  so  marked  that  period  in  American 
history  and  brought  about  the  head  of  the  great  soldier 
such  a  halo  of  glory,  that  all  behind  was  for  the  time  for- 
gotten, or  overshadowed.  The  other  was,  that  this  cam- 
paign, the  complete  destruction  of  this  powerful  ally  of  the 
British,  just  at  the  time  when  the  Government  stood  so 
much  in  need  of  comfort;  that  in  its  joyous  appreciation  of 
what  Jackson  had  done,  and  under  a  pressure  from  the  com- 
mon people,  it  made  him  a  Major  General  in  the  United 
States  Army.  From  this  uplift  General  Jackson  never  re- 
covered. To  take  up  a  backwoods,  uneducated  (as  they 
said)  militia  officer,  and  make  him  a  Major  General  in  the 
regular  army  over  hundreds  of  educated,  rightful  heirs, 
because  he  had  killed  a  few  Indians,  was  just  too  much  for 
the  small  men  in  the  army  and  their  kin.  They  com- 


186  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

menced  at  once  to  belittle  the  Creek  campaign.  All  the 
truly  great  soldiers  in  the  regular  army  have  nobly  defended 
the  name  and  fame  of  the  great  Tennessean,  remembering 
that  the  great  King  makes  great  soldiers,  and  that  while 
sheep  skins  are  innocent,  they  don't  make  great  men.  The 
great  commander  discovers,  by  some  intelligently  executed, 
daring  deed,  the  metal  of  a  subordinate,  and  lifts  him  out  of 
the  ranks.  Napoleon  found  great  marshals  down  in  the 
ranks.  With  the  class  of  military  men  who  thought 
dead  Indians  were  not  equal  to  sheepskins,  they  never  even 
could  see  that  General  Jackson  was  entitled  to  much  credit 
for  his  victory  at  New  Orleans  over  an  army  that  had  fol- 
lowed Wellington,  and  then  cleaned  up  everything  on  the 
Canadian  line. 

The  effect  of  this  campaign  not  only  gave  spirit  to  the 
American  army  and  great  comfort  to  the  Government  that 
had  been  driven  from  the  Capitol,  but  it  brought  the  British 
Commissioners  at  Ghent  to  their  senses,  and  made  possible 
a  treaty  of  peace.  And,  although  the  American  Commis- 
sioners had  to  bear  the  mortification  of  making  a  treaty 
without  securing  the  main  thing  they  were  fighting  about — 
the  denial  of  the  right  to  search  American  ships,  General 
Jackson,  by  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  did  put  it  in  the 
treaty,  and  in  a  more  enduring  form  than  if  it  had  been 
written.  England  in  all  her  wars  with  other  nations  has 
never  since  the  fatal  8th  of  January,  1815,  claimed  the  right 
to  search  one  of  our  ships  found  on  the  high  seas. 

The  war  with  England  would  not  have  closed  when  it 
did,  by  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  but  for  Jackson's  great  vic- 
tories over  this  powerful  tribe.  Mr.  Gallatin,  as  well  as  our 
other  commissioners  in  Europe,  had  made  the  discovery 
that  the  war  with  Napoleon  being  ended  by  his  capitulation, 
and  their  army  being  victorious  on  the  Canada  line  in  the 
war  with  us,  the  entire  military  power  was  to  be  thrown 
against  the  South ;  and  Mr.  Gallatin  so  informed  the  Presi- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  187 

dent.  Their  victories  in  the  North  and  their  ability  to 
mobilize  their  entire  military  force  against  the  South,  with 
the  Spaniards  in  Florida  their  friends  and  Pensacola  as  a 
base  of  supplies,  and  the  powerful  Creek  Nation  of  Indians 
occupying  all  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  an  ally  that  had 
agreed  to  kill  all  the  Americans — men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren—  as  they  came  to  them,  Great  Britain  felt  sure  of  at 
least  an  ending  of  the  war  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  hum- 
ble the  colonies  that  had  broken  the  bond  and  set  up  for 
themselves. 

The  character  of  the  tribe  of  Indians  which  had  made  an 
alliance  with  the  British,  and  which  General  Jackson  de- 
prived the  British  of  as  an  ally,  is  fully  described  by  Mr. 
Pickett  (who  had  long  lived  with  the  Creeks),  the  Alabama 
historian,  as  follows : 

"They  defeated  the  Americans,"  he  says,  "at  Burnt  Corn, 
and  compelled  them  to  make  a  precipitate  retreat.  They 
reduced  Fort  Mimms,  after  a  fight  of  five  hours,  and  ex- 
terminated its  numerous  inmates.  They  encountered  the 
large  force  under  Coffee,  at  Talleseehatchie,  and  fought 
until  not  one  warrior  was  left,  disdaining  to  beg  for  quarter. 
They  opposed  Jackson  at  Talledega,  and,  although  sur- 
rounded by  his  army,  poured  out  their  fire  and  fled  not  till 
the  ground  was  almost  covered  with  their  dead.  They  met 
Floyd  at  Autosse,  and  fought  him  a  few  hours  after  the 
battle  when  he  was  leading  his  army  over  Heydon's  hill. 
Against  the  well  trained  army  of  Claiborne  they  fought  at 
Holy  Ground  with  the  fury  of  tigers,  and  then  made  good 
their  retreat  across  the  Alabama.  At  Emuckfau  three  times 
did  they  charge  upon  Jackson,  and  when  he  retreated 
towards  the  Coosa  they  sprang  upon  him,  while  crossing 
the  creek  at  Enoctochopoc,  with  the  courage  and  impetu- 
osity of  lions.  Two  days  afterwards  a  party  near  Weather- 
ford  rushed  upon  the  unsuspecting  Georgians  at  Calabee, 
threw  the  army  into  dismay  and  confusion,  and  stood  their 


188  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

ground  in  a  severe  struggle,  until  the  superior  force  of 
General  Floyd  forced  them  to  fly  at  daylight.  Sixty  days 
after  this,  Jackson  surrounded  them  at  the  Horse  Shoe, 
and  after  a  sanguinary  contest  totally  exterminated  them, 
while  not  one  of  them  begged  for  quarter.  At  length, 
wounded,  starved  and  beaten,  hundreds  fled  to  the  swamps 
of  Florida;  others  went  to  Pensacola,  and,  rallying  under 
Colonel  Nichol,  attacked  Fort  Bowyer." 

"Thus,"  adds  the  same  author,  "were  the  brave  Creeks 
opposed  by  the  combined  armies  of  Georgia,  Tennessee  and 
the  Mississippi  Territory,  together  with  the  Federal  forces 
of  other  States,  besides  numerous  bands  of  bloody  Choc- 
taws  and  Chickasaws.  Fresh  volunteers  and  militia,  from 
month  to  month,  were  brought  against  them,  while  no  one 
came  to  their  assistance  save  a  few  English  officers,  who  led 
them  to  undertake  enterprises  beyond  their  ability  to  accom- 
plish. And  how  long  did  they  contend  against  the  powerful 
forces  allied  against  them?  From  the  27th  of  July,  1813, 
to  the  last  of  December,  1814.  In  every  engagement  with 
the  Americans  the  forces  of  the  Creeks  were  greatly 
inferior  in  number,  except  at  Burnt  Cork  and  Fort  Mimms." 

"Brave  nations  of  Alabama!"  exclaims  the  generous  his- 
torian, "to  defend  that  soil  where  the  Great  Spirit  gave 
you  birth;  you  sacrificed  your  peaceful  savage  pursuit. 
You  fought  the  invaders  until  more  than  half  your  war- 
riors were  slain.  The  remnant  of  your  warlike  tribe  yet 
live  on  the  distant  Arkansas.  You  have  been  forced  to 
quit  one  of  the  finest  regions  upon  the  earth,  which  is  now 
occupied  by  Americans.  Will  they,  in  some  dark  hour, 
when  Alabama  is  invaded,  defend  this  soil  as  bravely  and 
as  enduringly  as  you  have  done  ?  Posterity  may  be  able  to 
reply." 

The  closing  words  of  the  Alabama  historian  are  truly 
pathetic,  and  will  in  this  resurrection  of  historic  incidents, 
and  especially  the  tribute  paid  these  savages  fighting  for  a 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  189 

country  they  thought  was  their  own,  find  a  generous  and 
responsive  impulse  to  the  noble  words  of  the  historian  by 
thousands  who  believe  in  the  right  of  any  people  to  defend 
their  homes. 

The  facts,  however,  in  this  case  leave  no  room  for  de- 
bate. The  treatment  of  the  Creeks  by  our  Government 
from  its  inception  up  to  the  time  of  the  Jackson  campaign, 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  war  was  brought  on  and  the 
purpose  of  it,  is  an  essential  part  of  American  history,  and 
will  entirely  relieve  the  minds  of  the  sympathetic  friends  of 
the  Indians. 

When  this  Jackson-Creek  war  broke  out,  the  Government 
had  been  in  existence  twenty-six  years  (the  Creeks  were 
known  to  be  a  powerful  tribe),  by  far  the  strongest  of  all 
the  Southern  tribes — and  warlike.  So,  one  of  the  first 
things  General  Washington  did  when  he  became  President 
was  to  appoint  and  send  among  them  on  a  friendly  mis- 
sion a  Mr.  Hawkins,  with  instructions  to  cultivate  friendly 
relations.  Hawkins  was  a  wise  and  good  man,  and  came  to 
be  much  beloved  by  the  Indians ;  he  was  truly  a  great  friend, 
and  was  so  recognized. 

He  was  in  a  sense  the  head  of  the  nation,  and  taught  the 
Indians  to  always  speak  of  General  Washington  as  their 
"Great  Father."  During  this  long  period  of  about  twenty- 
six  years  there  had  been  nothing  but  friendly  relations,  and 
the  Indians  were  truly  the  wards  of  the  nation.  So  satis- 
factory were  these  relations,  that  all  subsequent  Presidents 
down  to  this  outbreak  kept  Mr.  Hawkins  without  any  dis- 
cussion about  changing  him. 

Colonel  Nichol,  who  was  in  command  at  Pensacola,  as 
well  as  the  "Subaltern"  correspondent  of  the  British  army 
in  the  war  of  1812,  admits,  and  publishes  the  facts  of  the 
alliance  between  the  British  Government  and  the  Creek 
Nation,  for  the  latter  to  aid  the  former  in  the  war. 

Colonel  Hawkins  was  at  the  seat  of  government  on  the 


190  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Alabama  River,  holding  a  council  with  the  chiefs  about 
general  matters  connected  with  affairs  of  the  nation,  when 
Tecumseh  came  there,  and,  by  a  series  of  "talks,"  incited  the 
tribe  to  go  to  war — the  first  sign  of  which  was  the  horrible, 
the  awful  murder  of  about  400  whites,  mostly  women  and 
children,  at  Fort  Mimms. 

This  was  a  declaration  of  war  that  brought  General  Jack- 
son out  of  bed  with  a  broken  arm.  There  was  no  question, 
"Who  fired  the  first  gun?" 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  191 


CHAPTER    XV. 

PERSISTENT  REFUSAL  OF  GENERAL  JACKSON   TO   ACCEPT 
CIVIL  HONORS;  HIS  GENIUS  PRE-EMINENTLY  MILITARY 

TENNESSEANS   RECOGNIZE  THIS,  BUT  THE  UNITED 

STATES  GOVERNMENT  REMAINS  LONG  UNCONVINCED 

THE  CREEK  CAMPAIGN  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE 
WAR  OF  l8l2  FINALLY  RESULT  IN  REMOVING  PREJUDICE 
AT  WASHINGTON,  AND  JACKSON  IS  MADE  MAJOR  GEN- 
ERAL IN  THE  REGULAR  ARMY. 

THE  Creek  War  being  ended,  Major  General  Pinck- 
ney,  of  the  United  States  Army,  banquetted  Gen- 
eral Jackson  at  the  Holy  Ground,  and  took  com- 
mand of  the  few  regulars  in  the  South,  and  on  the  2ist  of 
April,  1814,  issued  the  order  for  General  Jackson  and  his 
Tennesseans  to  return  home.      They  were  to  be  discharged 
at  Fayetteville,  from  whence  they  had  moved  eight  months 
before. 

General  Pinckney,  an  old  Revolutionary  soldier,  had 
watched  Jackson's  career  in  both  campaigns,  and  in  most 
flattering  terms  reported  to  the  Government  at  Washing- 
ton his  victories  in  the  Creek  campaign,  and  gave  him  a 
parting  blessing  rarely  witnessed  in  army  life.  The  army, 
with  such  complimentary  words  for  brave  service  as  only 
General  Jackson  knew  how  to  use,  was  discharged  on. 
reaching  the  State,  and  General  Jackson,  many  miles  be- 
fore he  reached  Nashville,  was  met  by  many  hundreds  of 
people  who  had  watched  his  campaign  with  a  pride  that 
has  come  down  to  their  grand  and  great  grandchildren. 
He  was  met  and  welcomed  as  the  conquering  hero.  He 
had  inflicted  just  punishment  on  the  great  Creek  Nation 


192  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

for  the  most  barbarous  massacre  of  helpless  people.  He 
was  taken  to  the  court-house,  when,  on  behalf  of  the  com- 
mittee, Felix  Grundy  delivered  an  address  of  welcome,  to 
which  Jackson  replied.  General  Jackson's  speech  appears 
in  the  Nashville  Whig,  of  May  1 6,  1814.  It  is  as  follows : 

"GENTLEMEN  : — The  favorable  sentiments  you  have  been 
pleased  to  express,  by  authority  of  your  fellow-citizens,  of 
the  brave  officers  and  soldiers  who  composed  my  army  in 
the  late  expedition  against  the  Creek  Indians,  are  received 
with  the  liveliest  sensibility. 

"We  had  indeed  borne  with  many  outrages  from  that 
barbarous  and  infatuated  nation  before  the  massacre  at 
Fort  Mimms  raised  our  energies  to  avenge  the  wrongs  we 
had  sustained.  I  participated  in  the  common  feeling,  and 
my  duty  to  my  country  impelled  me  to  take  the  field.  I 
endeavored  to  discharge  that  duty  faithfully;  my  best  ex- 
ertions were  used,  my  best  judgment  exercised. 

"In  the  prosecution  of  such  a  war  difficulties  and  priva- 
tions were  to  be  expected.  To  meet  and  sustain  these 
became  the  duty  of  every  officer  and  soldier;  and  for  the 
faithful  performance  of  this  duty  they  are  amply  rewarded 
in  the  expression  of  their  country's  approbation. 

"The  success  which  attended  our  exertions  has  indeed 
been  very  great.  We  have  laid  the  foundation  of  a  lasting 
peace  to  those  frontiers  which  had  been  so  long  and  so 
often  infested  by  the  savages  we  have  conquered.  We  have 
added  a  country  to  ours  which,  by  connecting  the  settle- 
ments of  Georgia  with  those  of  the  Mississippi  Territory, 
and  both  of  them  with  our  own,  will  become  a  secure  barrier 
against  foreign  invasion,  or  the  operation  of  foreign  influ- 
ence over  our  red  neighbors  in  the  South,  and  we  have 
furnished  the  means  of  not  only  defraying  the  expenses 
of  the  war  against  the  Creeks,  but  of  that  which  is  carried 
on  against  their  ally,  Great  Britain. 

"How  ardently,  therefore,  is  it  to  be  wished  that  the 
Government  may  take  the  earliest  opportunity  and  advise 
the  most  effectual  means  of  populating  that  section  of  the 
Union. 

"In  acquiring  these  advantages  to  our  country  it  is  true 
we  have  lost  some  valuable  citizens,  some  brave  soldiers. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  193 

But  these  are  misfortunes  inseparable  from  a  state  of  war; 
and  while  I  mingle  my  regret  with  yours  for  the  lost,  I 
have  this  consolation,  in  common  with  yourselves,  that 
the  sons  of  Tennessee  who  fell  contending  for  their  rights 
have  approved  themselves  worthy  the  American  name — 
worthy  descendants  of  their  sires  of  the  revolution." 

This  is  a  model  speech.  In  its  acceptance  of  the  senti- 
ments expressed  for  the  soldiers  under  him  it  is  singularly 
modest;  in  what  was  accomplished  it  is  suggestive  and  not 
free  in  the  use  of  the  pronoun  "I."  If  the  many  literary 
critics  who  have  taxed  their  scant  store-houses  for  words 
to  show  the  great  soldier's  inaptness  with  pen  and  tongue, 
had  possessed  the  great  man's  modesty,  their  literary  pro- 
ductions would  have  been  less  offensive. 

Shortly  after  Jackson's  great  victory  in  the  Battle  of  the 
Horse  Shoe,  a  brigadier  generalship  fell  vacant  in  the  regu- 
lar army,  and  the  President  intimated  a  purpose  to  appoint 
Jackson.  This  was  opposed  by  officers  in  the  regular 
army,  but  about  the  time  Jackson  got  back  to  Tennessee  the 
commission  of  brigadier  general  in  the  regular  army  was 
tendered  him.  While  General  Jackson  was  considering  the 
question  of  accepting  it,  the  Legisalture  of  the  Territory  of 
Mississippi  voted  him  a  sword.  About  the  sam  time  there 
came  a  vacancy,  or  chance  for  a  new  Major  General  in  the 
United  States  Army,  and  this  was  tendered  General  Jack- 
son, which  he  gladly  accepted. 

General  Jacksons'  rise,  accessions  to  positions  where  he 
could  display  his  military  genius  in  the  interest  of  his 
country,  makes  a  record  without  a  counterpart  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  or  any  other  country.  The  reader  may  call  it 
luck,  fate,  or  providence,  as  he  chooses,  but  there  is  nothing 
like  it. 

Civil  office  was  bestowed  on  General  Jackson,  commenc- 
ing with  his  entrance  into  the  State,  and  continued  in  a 
manner  that  is  unaccountable — made  district  attorney  in 


194  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

the  Territory  when  a  mere  boy ;  than  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention which  formed  the  State  Government;  then  sent  to 
the  Lower  House  of  Congress;  twice  in  the  United  States 
Senate;  then  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State, 
nearly  all  of  which  offices  he  resigned,  showing  that  he  had 
no  taste  or  desire  for  civil  office,  and  all  manifestly  in  the 
belief  and  with  an  undying  faith  that  his  career  in  life  was 
that  of  a  soldier.  To  look  for  a  moment  at  his  military 
career  in  two  aspects,  getting  the  places  to  show  his  genius 
and  then  the  genius  he  developed,  and  it  is  enough  to  make 
an  infidel  not  only  a  believer  in  a  great  King  that  rules,  but 
in  the  goodness  of  the  old  blue  stocking  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination, tempered  with  the  mercy  and  wisdom  of  Him 
who  makes  destiny.  Jackson  had  been  in  the  State  but  a 
few  years,  was  quite  a  young  man  when  he  became  a  can- 
didate for  major  general  for  the  whole  State,  a  most  im- 
portant office,  and  was  elected  by  one  majority,  the  casting 
vote  of  the  Governor,  and  over  John  Sevier,  who  was  not 
only  a  great  soldier,  but  a  man  beloved  by  the  people,  and 
who  had  stood  guard  over  the  women  and  children  from  the 
first  settlement  on  the  Wautauga  and  Nolachucky,  and 
who  was  such  an  idol  among  the  people  that  they  made  him 
the  first  Governor  and  kept  him  in  that  office  for  twelve 
years,  and  then  sent  him  to  Congress.  This  one  vote  put 
Jackson  in  a  position  where  he  was  enabled  to  take  another 
step  when  the  War  of  1812  came,  and  when  he  made  the 
celebrated  Natchez  campaign. 

Mr.  Benton's  speech  in  the  Senate,  as  shown  in  a  former 
chapter,  details  with  great  minuteness  the  efforts  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson  and  his  friends  to  get  him  a  commission  in  the 
army  when  the  War  of  1812  came.  Jackson  believed  he 
had  military  genius;  all  who  knew  him  intimately,  as  Col. 
Benton  did,  believed  he  had  military  genius.  He  had  been 
major  general  of  the  militia  in  Tennessee  for  more  than 
ten  years,  and  had  thoroughly  impressed  the  people  of  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  195 

State  that  by  nature  he  had  the  qualities  of  a  soldier. 
In  fact,  his  success  over  such  a  born  soldier  and  great  popu- 
lar leader  in  gatting  the  office  of  major  general,  as  Colonel 
John  Sevier,  the  hero  of  King's  Mountain,  proved  that  in 
his  bearing  and  intercourse  with  men,  without  even  the 
insignia  of  war,  there  was  in  him  a  martial  spirit,  a  spark 
capable  of  setting  the  whole  State  on  fire.  Hence,  in  his 
desire  to  serve  his  country  when  the  war  came  he  had 
strong  and  powerful  backing  from  his  own  State. 

But  the  Government  at  Washington  was  not  impressed. 
Aaron  Burr  pronounced  him  a  great  military  genius ;  Burr 
had  served  with  him  in  the  Senate  and  had  kept  up  with 
his  career.  This  indorsement  of  Burr  did  him  no  good; 
in  fact,  Jackson  had  been  one  of  the  many  thousands  (and, 
of  course,  was  spoken)  who  believed  Burr's  scheme  did  not 
contemplate  treason  to  his  own  Government.  Then,  again, 
the  Government  at  Washington  could  not  understand  what 
manner  of  man  he  was.  A  man  that  ran  a  big  store,  over- 
looked a  big  farm,  practiced  law,  put  on  his  regimentals 
when  muster  day  came  round,  fought  duels,  ran  horses, 
was  ambitious,  but  didn't  want  a  place  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  nor  in  the  National  House  of  Representatives,  and 
resigned  both,  and  then  resigned  the  office  of  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  his  State,  was  to  the  silk-stocking,  knee- 
breeches,  powder-haired  gentlemen  at  Washington  an 
enigma — and  he  might  hurt  somebody  if  he  got  an  army. 
They  did  not  believe  much  in  the  aphorism,  "Must  be  good 
for  something ;  tried  everything  else ;  therefore  give  him  an 
army." 

But  the  people  of  Tennessee  were  wiser  than  the  Gov- 
ernment. They  believed  he  was  a  born  commander  of 
men,  one  of  the  heroes  that  God  makes  when  destiny  awaits 
a  nation.  And  as  misfortunes  came  to  us  on  the  Northern 
frontier,  as  our  armies  were  driven  from  place  to  place  on 
the  Canada  line,  the  people  of  Tennessee,  through  their 


196  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

leading  men  from  every  part  of  the  State,  petitioned  to  have 
General  Jackson  with  his  Tennessee  militia  put  into  the 
fight,  but  the  Government  was  afraid. 

First  and  early  in  the  war  there  was  a  brigadier's  place 
to  be  given  to  the  West.  For  this  appointment  his  name 
was  presented  by  Tennessee  and  pressed,  but  another  suited 
the  Government  better. 

Second,  another  brigadier  was  allotted  to  the  West,  and 
Jackson  was  again  presented  by  Tennessee  and  pressed,  but 
he  did  not  suit  the  Government. 

Then  it  was  given  out  that  six  generals  would  be  ap- 
pointed from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  Jackson's  Ten- 
nessee friends  went  to  work  earnestly,  fully  believing  that 
Jackson  would  be  one.  But,  as  Col.  Benton  says,  he  was 
appointed  to  go  back  to  his  farm.  The  door  to  military 
position,  so  far  as  the  Government  was  concerned,  was 
barred  against  him.  This  led  to  great  disappointment  in 
Tennessee,  and  some  feeling  of  injustice. 

But  it  was  then  ordered  that  50,000  volunteers  would  be 
accepted.  This  was  Jackson's  opportunity.  Through  the 
Governor  he  tendered  3,500  men,  and  they  were  of  course 
accepted,  and  Jackson  became  a  soldier  of  1812. 

At  the  time  General  Jackson  received  his  commission  of 
major  general,  and  was  ordered  to  take  command  of  the 
Southern  forces,  there  were  conditions  that  would  have 
appalled  any  other  man.  From  the  day  General  Jackson 
broke  away  from  his  surgeons,  sixteen  days  after  his  fight 
with  the  Bentons,  he  had  never  seen  one  well  day.  One  of 
the  wounds  was  a  source  of  constant  pain  until  twenty 
years  afterwards,  when  the  bullet  was  cut  out  at  Washing- 
ton when  he  was  President,  with  Col.  Tom  Benton  there  to 
see  it  well  done,  and  the  happiest  man  in  the  city  when  the 
great  sufferer  was  relieved;  and  the  old  General,  with  his 
marked  politeness,  returned  to  him  his  property,  the  bullet 
which  he  had  carried  about  with  him  for  a  little  over 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  197 

twenty  years.  The  wounds,  the  exposure  through  a  hard 
winter  in  the  wilderness,  saving  the  frontiers  from  the 
tomahawk,  and  fighting  the  Indians  when  he  could  get  to 
them,  sleeping  but  little  and  half  of  the  time  with  nothing 
to  eat,  had  left  him  with  the  appearance  of  a  feeble,  broken- 
down  man.  The  whole  time  his  broken  arm  had  been  in 
a  sling.  Pains  from  the  wounds  and  poor  food  had  finally 
brought  what  seemed  to  be  an  incurable  case  of  chronic 
dysentery. 

At  the  time  the  Government  gave  him  his  commission  as 
Major  General  and  ordered  him  South,  it  was  painfully 
aware  that  the  British  army  had  conducted  a  most  success- 
ful campaign  in  the  North;  that  it  had  literally  conquered 
and  captured  our  armies  on  the  frontier,  and  that  a  large 
part  of  the  victorious  army,  the  army  to  which  Hull  had 
surrendered,  and  that  had  massacred  our  troops  at  French 
Town,  were  being  liberated  for  the  great  campaign  in  the 
South ;  and  it  was  also  known,  from  the  letters  of  Mr.  Gal- 
latin,  Mr.  Clay,  and  Mr.  Adams,  who  were  in  urope  trying 
to  make  peace,  that  a  new  and  powerful  army  was  being 
raised  in  England  for  overrunning  the  South  and  closing 
up  a  war  with  the  United  States  with  such  a  credit  balance 
that  the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis  would  be  treated  as 
an  accident. 

At  this  time  England  was  full  of  fight.  Napoleon  had 
just  capitulated  and  been  imprisoned  on  the  Island  of  Elba, 
and  the  whole  fighting  force  that  had  been  engaged  with 
France  was  liberated,  and  all  eyes  were  turned  to  the 
Southern  coast,  and  for  the  command  of  the  army  one  of 
Wellington's  best  generals  was  selected. 

At  the  time  General  Jackson  was  made  major  general, 
Providence  or  some  mysterious  agency,  came  in  to  remove 
six  generals  entitled  to  the  place  by  rank.  General  Wil- 
kinson was  transferred  from  New  Orleans  to  the  North- 
west, where  he  made  a  failure.  Next  Brigadier  General 


198  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Wade  Hampton  resigned;  then  Major  General  William 
Henry  Harrison  resigned.  Then  General  Flourney,  who 
succeeded  Wilkinson,  resigned;  fifth,  General  Howard,  of 
Kentucky,  who  was  dispatched  to  succeed  Flourney  at  New 
Orleans,  died  before  reaching  his  post;  sixth,  General 
Gaines,  sent  to  New  Orleans  at  the  first  alarm,  did  not  reach 
there  in  time.  If  he  had  reached  there  he  would  have  been 
in  command. 

After  the  Creek  campaign,  General  Jackson  had  but  a 
short  rest.  Immediately  after  his  acceptance  of  the  com- 
mission of  major  general  reached  Washington,  he  was 
ordered  to  take  command  of  the  entire  Southern  forces, 
which  gave  him  only  about  three  weeks'  rest  at  home.  The 
United  States  Army  in  the  South  consisted  of  two  skeleton 
regiments. 

General  Jackson  with  his  aides  reached  the  Holy  Ground 

about  the day  of ,  1814,  and  had  associated 

with  him  the  Government's  trusted  agent,  Colonel  Hayne, 
of  South  Carolina,  who  had  been  on  the  staff  of  Colonel 
Pinckney. 

It  is  due  to  history  that  some  special  mention  should  be 
made  of  Colonel  Hawkins,  who  took  part  in  making  what 
is  so  well  known  as  "Jackson's  treaty."  This  is  due  because 
he  set  an  example  in  dealing  with  the  Indians  that  has,  I 
trust,  in  the  past  been  of  service  to  the  Government's  Indian 
agents,  and  should,  as  long  as  we  have  the  Indians  as  wards 
of  the  Government,  be  an  example  to  Indian  superintendents 
and  agents.  His  appointment  was  made  by  General  Wash- 
ington, and  was  the  inception  of  that  wise  policy  inaugu- 
rated by  our  Government  and  perfected  by  a  system  of 
legislation  whose  beneficent  wisdom  insured  the  result. 
There  has  been  much  unkind  criticism  of  our  treatment  of 
the  Indians,  and  it  is  true  a  few  of  our  Indian  agents  have 
abused  the  great  trust.  It  is  only  necessary  to  say  that 
this  in  human  affairs  was  expected.  No  government,  no 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  199 

large  corporation,  has  yet  reached  the  point  of  never  making 
a  mistake  in  selecting  agents.  Every  lawyer  in  the  United 
States  knows  how  our  courts  have  leaned  to  the  Indians  in 
protecting  them  in  their  rights,  and  all  who  have  been  per- 
mitted to  look  in  on  the  political  department  of  our  Govern- 
ment know  with  what  care  the  Government  has  selected 
heads  of  the  Indian  Department. 

As  a  fact,  Mr.  Cleveland  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
Mr.  Lamar,  were  more  concerned  about  this  office  than  any 
other,  and  while  General  J.  D.  C.  Atkins  was  a  man  of  large 
experience  in  public  affairs,  it  was  his  long  and  well-estab- 
lished character  for  integrity  and  a  high  sense  of  justice  that 
secured  him  the  place  at  the  head  of  the  Indian  Department. 

No  mere  note  or  reference  in  a  biography  like  this  can  do 
justice  to  Mr.  Hawkins,  so  long  the  wise  and  discreet  agent 
to  the  Creek  Nation.  It  was  his  wisdom  and  high  sense  of 
justice  that  for  so  long  a  time  —  and  until  that  wonderful 
man,  Tecumseh,  the  great  ally  of  the  British,  came  and 
stimulated  them  to  the  effort  of  regaining  their  country  by 
killing  all  the  women  and  children  —  kept  the  Creek  Nation 
on  good  terms  with  the  white  people.  General  Jackson,  in 
making  this  treaty,  was,  in  a  great  measure,  acting  under 
instructions  from  the  Government;  however,  with  a  large 
discretion  vested  in  him.  In  making  the  treaty  he  met  only 
the  friendly  chiefs.  All  the  hostile  chiefs  not  killed  in  the 
battles  had  left  and  gone  to  Florida,  and  were  at  Pensacola 
under  the  protection  of  the  Spanish  Governor,  organizing 
to  aid  the  British.  The  duty  devolving  on  General  Jackson 
was  delicate  and  responsible,  dealing  with  friends,  but 
making  a  treaty  which  hostiles  must  be  held  to.  The  terms 
were  dictated  by  General  Jackson  and  to  a  conquered  people. 

First,  he  required  the  giving  up  all  or  nearly  all  of  that 
part  of  their  territory  to  the  United  States  which  now  makes 
the  States  of  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  a  part  of  West 
Tennessee. 


200  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Second,  they  were  to  cease  all  intercourse  with  any  Span- 
ish garrison  or  town,  and  admit  no  trader  among  them 
unless  by  license  of  the  United  States. 

Third,  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  make  roads 
through  the  Creek  Nation  and  establish  military  and  trading 
posts,  and  to  surrender  their  prophets  and  instigators  of 
the  war. 

When  General  Jackson  made  known  his  terms  to  the 
chiefs  an  interesting  scene  occurred.  On  one  side  of  the 
General's  spacious  marquee  were  ranged  the  Creek  chiefs, 
grave,  silent,  dignified,  and  wearing  all  the  fantastic  insignia 
of  their  authority.  On  the  other  were  General  Jackson,  the 
venerable  and  beloved  Colonel  Hawkins,  the  General's  aides, 
officers  and  secretary,  and  Colonel  Hayne,  then  the  recently 
appointed  Inspector  General  of  the  Army.  There  was  also 
a  great  concourse  of  Indians,  Creek  and  Cherokee,  and  part 
of  a  regiment  of  troops  on  the  ground,  all  interested  in  the 
events  transpiring. 

Big  Warrior,  so  named  from  his  colossal  proportions,  a 
chief  renowned  among  both  races  for  his  eloquence,  who 
had  never  lifted  against  the  white  man  a  hostile  hand,  was 
the  first  to  express  the  feelings  of  the  council.  His  speech 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  all  who  heard  it,  the  majestic 
manner  of  the  man  adding  force  to  his  words.  He  told  the 
story  of  the  war,  from  what  causes  it  had  arisen;  what 
sufferings  it  had  caused;  what  desolation  it  had  left.  He 
admitted  that  the  coming  of  Jackson's  army  alone  had  saved 
the  friendly  party  from  destruction,  and  that  the  claim  of 
the  Government  for  indemnity  was  just.  They  were  will- 
ing to  transfer  a  portion  of  their  land.  But  was  not  nego- 
tiation to  that  end  premature  ?  Was  the  war  ended  ?  The 
war  party,  it  was  true,  had  fled  to  Florida,  but  they  might 
return  and  renew  the  strife.  The  Indians  required  large 
hunting  grounds,  for  their  habits  were  not  the  habits  of 
white  men  who  stayed  at  home  and  drew  all  their  substance 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  201 

from  the  soil.  To  give  up  so  much  land  as  the  treaty 
required  would  reduce  the  tribe  to  the  greatest  distress, 
which  seemed  to  them  neither  just  nor  necessary. 

There  were  other  speeches  made.  To  these  speeches 
Jackson  replied  at  considerable  length.  Moved  as  he  and 
all  present  had  been  by  the  addresses  of  the  two  chiefs,  he 
still  felt  it  due  to  the  United  States  to  adhere  to  his  demands. 
"You  know,"  said  he,  "that  the  portion  of  country  which 
you  desire  to  retain  is  that  through  which  the  intruders  and 
mischief-makers  from  the  lakes  reached  you,  and  urged 
your  nation  to  those  acts  of  violence  that  have  involved  your 
people  in  wretchedness  and  your  country  in  ruin.  Through 
it  leads  the  path  Tecumseh  trod  when  he  came  to  visit  you. 
That  path  must  be  stopped.  Until  this  is  done,  your  nation 
cannot  expect  happiness,  nor  mine  security.  I  have  already 
told  you  the  reasons  for  demanding  it.  They  are  such  as 
ought  not,  cannot  be  departed  from.  You  must  determine 
whether  or  not  you  are  disposed  to  become  friendly." 


202  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

GREAT     DIPLOMATIC     SKILL     SHOWN     IN     DRAWING     UP     OF 

CREEK    TREATY SCHOLARLY     CORRESPONDENCE    WITH 

SECRETARY  OF  WAR  ARMSTRONG  AND  THE  SPANISH 
GOVERNOR  OF  LOUISIANA WITH  SKILL,  INDEPEND- 
ENCE AND  JUDGMENT  JACKSON  ARRANGED  FOR  AND 
CONDUCTED  THE  BATTLE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS  PENDING 
DELAYED  INSTRUCTIONS  FROM  WASHINGTON. 

ONE  object  in  writing  the  life  of  Andrew  Jackson  is 
not  to  make  history  for  Tennessee,  but  to  do  justice 
to  its  history.  It  is  very  well  known  that  Tennes- 
seans,  led  by  the  great  soldier,  were  his  main  dependence, 
and  won  the  celebrated  8th  of  January  battle  at  New 
Orleans,  but  it  is  not  this  unparalleled  victory  over  the 
British  that  I  am  at  present  dealing  with.  But  few  Ameri- 
cans have  taken  the  pains  to  collect  the  facts  leading  up  to 
that  battle.  The  fifteen  hundred  dead  British  on  the  one 
side,  and  on  the  other  six  men  killed  and  seven  wounded,  as 
General  Jackson  reported  to  the  Secretary  of  War  the  next 
day  after  the  battle,  has,  as  a  rule,  been  enough  to  satisfy 
Americans  without  looking  further.  In  the  duration  of  the 
battle,  in  the  difference  in  numbers,  in  the  disparity  in  the 
number  killed,  and  in  its  effect  on  international  affairs,  it  is 
the  most  remarkable  battle  ever  fought  in  any  country. 
But  this  does  not  tell  the  whole  story — the  defeated  army 
was  made  up  of  trained  soldiers  who  had  served  under  the 
most  renowned  soldier  in  the  world,  and  Jackson  had  only 
militia,  and  with  6,000  against  12,000. 

But  my  mind  is  not  now  on  this  great  battle.       With 
minuteness  and  care  I  shall  examine  the  facts  and  conditions 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  203 

leading  up  to  it,  and  especially  as  to  who  fought  it,  and 
under  what  circumstances,  and  the  courage  and  judgment 
displayed  in  getting  ready  to  fight  it,  and  in  fighting  it. 
The  man  who  looks  back  at  the  conditions  sees  nothing  but 
hardihood,  desperation.  I  have  already  said  that  when  the 
British  came  back  in  1812  to  correct  the  mistake  Cornwallis 
made  in  surrendering  the  plantations,  they  found  but  one 
lion  on  the  farm.  I  propose  now  to  prove,  as  clearly  as 
circumstantial  evidence  can  reach  a  demonstration,  that  but 
for  Jackson  and  his  army  the  entire  South  would  have  been 
overrun,  the  helpless  people  literally  hacked  to  pieces,  and 
the  entire  country  placed  so  near  subjugation  that  the 
humiliation  would  have  been  close  kin  to  it ;  and  that  while 
the  treaty  of  Ghent  was  made  before  the  battle  was  fought, 
that  treaty  would  not  have  been  made  if  General  Jackson 
had  not  destroyed  England's  greatest  ally,  the  Creek  Nation ; 
and  then  I  will  show  that  but  for  Tennessee  soldiers  — 
volunteers  and  raw  militia  —  the  battle  at  New  Orleans 
could  not  have  been  fought,  and  the  entire  South  would 
have  been  overrun.  The  few  soldiers  the  Government  had 
would  have  been  captured  or  massacred,  as  they  were  at 
Detroit  and  Frenchtown ;  and,  finally,  the  most  humiliating 
treaty  probably  submitted  to  that  had  ever  been  made 
between  two  great  peoples.  The  conditions  were  enough 
to  appall  any  man  except  one  with  the  faith  and  will  that 
Jackson  had,  and  no  other  man  ever  had  such  a  combination. 
In  the  first  place,  we  were  in  a  war  that  the  richest,  and, 
as  was  generally  said,  the  most  enlightened  part  of  our 
country — New  England — was  utterly  opposed  to,  and  was 
earnestly  insisting  on  Mr.  Madison  making  the  very  best 
settlement  he  could  get;  and  all  New  England  was  openly 
rejoicing  when  Napoleon  capitulated  and  was  sent  off  to 
Elba  in  1814,  because,  they  said,  now  that  the  long  war 
between  England  and  France  had  been  ended  and  the  army 
and  navy  that  had  been  fighting  France  was  liberated,  to  be 


204  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

turned  on  the  United  States ;  therefore,  Mr.  Madison  would 
now  see  that  he  could  not  carry  on  the  war  any  longer  and 
would  have  to  make  peace ;  and  then  New  England  had  the 
"we-told-you-so"  argument,  and  pointed  to  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Madison,  the  President,  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  an  ex- 
President,  had  both  opposed  the  war  as  long  as  they  were 
allowed  to,  because  they  said  we  were  not  able,  having  no 
standing  army  to  fight  England's  trained  soldiers,  and  that 
situated  as  we  were  war  should  be  the  last  resort,  and  not 
until  we  had  an  army;  and  then  our  credit  was  so  low  in 
1814  that  Mr.  Monroe,  the  Secretary  of  War,  was  pledging 
his  large  private  fortune  for  money  to  carry  it  on. 

The  victories  over  our  army  at  the  North  had  been  so 
uniform  that  the  English  press  and  people,  as  I  showed  in 
a  former  chapter,  were  looking  upon  us  with  contempt. 
Then  it  was  no  secret  that  a  great  fleet  and  powerful  army 
were  being  organized  in  England  to  destroy  all  the  Southern 
seaports  and  to  overrun  the  country,  and  that  the  British 
press  and  all  the  English  people  were  treating  the  expedition 
to  the  South  in  the  nature  of  an  excursion. 

At  this  time  our  leading  men  were  in  Europe.  Mr. 
Adams,  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Bayard,  Mr.  Gallatin,  Mr.  Russell, 
the  Ministers  to  Ghent,  were  sorely  tried  by  the  large 
demands  made  by  the  British  Commissioners,  and  they  were 
not  a  little  discouraged  when  the  French  War  was  ended  and 
the  British  soldiers  were  thereby  liberated  to  fight  the  United 
States.  The  letters  of  these  gentlemen,  some  of  which  I 
published  in  a  former  chapter,  show  their  great  anxiety  about 
the  preparation  for  attacking  the  South  and  the  divided 
sentiment  at  home.  Of  course,  these  letters  did  not  get 
beyond  the  President's  mansion  till  after  the  war,  but  the 
facts  about  which  they  were  written  became  public  in  various 
ways. 

One  great  fact  General  Jackson  did  know  —  that  the 
North  had  been  so  badly  beaten  by  the  British  trained  sol- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  205 

diers  that  it  was  creating  the  greatest  anxiety  among  Gov- 
ernment officials,  and  that  he  had  only  reached  the  position 
of  major  general  by  the  resignation  of  several  generals,  in 
effect  resigning  in  front  of  the  enemy. 

The  only  bright  spot  in  all  the  surroundings  was  that  he 
had  so  effectually  cleaned  up  the  powerful  Creek  Nation,  the 
ally  in  the  South  so  much  depended  on  by  the  British,  that 
if  an  army  could  be  raised  in  Tennessee  it  could  cross  the 
wilderness,  through  the  Creek  Nation,  without  having  to 
fight  its  way  to  get  to  the  Gulf  coast. 

By  the  five  battles  Jackson  fought  with  the  Creek  warriors 
he  had  killed  or  driven  out  of  all  that  country  lying  between 
Tennessee  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  the  British  would 
commence  operations,  every  single  hostile  chief;  and  then 
by  a  treaty  with  the  friendly  chiefs  he  had  acquired  posses- 
sion of  all  the  country,  or  nearly  all,  which  is  now  the  States 
of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  with  the  right  to  make  roads 
and  establish  military  posts. 

All  under  Jackson  in  the  Creek  War  understood  him  to 
be  avenging  the  awful  massacre  at  Fort  Mimms,  and  pro- 
tecting the  women  and  children  on  the  frontiers.  But  when 
Jackson  came  to  the  treaty  it  was  apparent,  and  the  purpose 
was  made  manifest  in  his  talk  at  the  time  of  the  treaty,  as 
well  as  in  his  Nashville  speech  when  he  returned  from  the 
Creek  War,  at  least  a  main  purpose  was  to  open  the  country 
so  that  a  Tennessee  army  could  reach  the  coast  without 
fighting  its  way,  and  meet  the  British  at  Mobile,  New 
Orleans,  Pensacola,  or  any  other  place  they  might  land. 

The  most  remarkable  spectacle  in  military  affairs  that 
ever  appeared  on  the  American  continent  was  Andrew 
Jackson  when  he  closed  up  the  Creek  campaign  by  making 
the  treaty,  and  in  a  war  with  the  most  warlike  nation  in  the 
world,  and  with  a  great  army  that  had  followed  Wellington, 
and  with  a  navy  whose  officers,  some  of  whom,  at  least,  had 
fought  under  Nelson  at  the  Battle  of  the  Nile,  concentrating 


206  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

its  forces,  land  and  navy,  on  the  coast  just  in  front  of  him, 
when  he  had  three  pieces  of  regiments  only,  his  only  hope 
and  his  only  resources  being  two  officers,  Coffee  and  Carroll, 
back  in  Tennessee  raising  an  army  of  volunteers,  with  which 
he  proposed  to  whip,  and  believed  he  could  do  it,  all  the 
forces  that  England  could  send.  Standing  there  in  front 
of  this  vast  military  power,  with  scarcely  soldiers  enough  for 
a  bodyguard,  he  had  one  eye  on  the  Spanish  Governor  over 
at  Pensacola,  only  two  days'  march  away,  who  was  organ- 
izing for  the  British  army  all  the  hostile  Indians  that  he  had 
driven  out  of  the  Creek  country,  making  his  city  a  store- 
house, a  depot  of  supplies  for  the  great  army  that  was  to 
come,  the  harbor  a  welcome  place  for  the  British  ships,  and 
a  British  flag  run  up  over  His  Excellency's  abiding  place, 
and  his  great  fort  —  the  Barancas  —  at  the  service  of  the 
strutting  British  officer,  Nichols.  There  Jackson  stood, 
with  one  eye  on  this  Governor,  and  the  other  eye  looking 
out  for  the  approaching  great  army,  his  trust  in  God,  and 
the  Tennessee  soldiers  that  Coffee  and  Carroll  were  getting 
up  in  Tennessee,  400  miles  away,  and  at  the  same  time  with 
a  faith  that  enabled  him  to  send  a  note  to  the  impudent  and 
international  law-breaker  that  was  Governor  of  Florida, 
that  he  would  correspond  with  him  in  future  only  by  turning 
his  cannon  on  his  palace. 

The  faith  of  this  great  soldier  must  have  been  God-given, 
for  he  never  doubted  he  could  whip  the  British  army  when 
it  came,  though  the  army  was  practically  in  sight,  while  his 
soldiers  were  in  Tennessee  rubbing  up  their  squirrel  rifles. 

Early  in  the  war  the  President  had  asked  General  Wil- 
kinson, in  command  at  New  Orleans,  for  information  about 
the  defense  of  New  Orleans,  to  which  General  Wilkinson 
replied : 

"To  defend  New  Orleans  and  the  mouths  of  the  Mississ- 
ippi against  a  dominant  naval  force  and  6,000  veteran 
troops,  rank  and  file,  from  the  West  India  station,  the  fol- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  207 

lowing  force  is  indispensable :  Four  of  the  heaviest  national 
vessels;  forty  gunboats  to  mount  18  and  24-pounders;  six 
steamboats  for  transportation,  each  to  hold  400  men  with  a 
month's  provisions ;  four  stout  redeaux  each,  to  mount  24- 
pounders;  10,000  regular  troops;  4,500  militia." 

This  red-tape,  sheepskin  general,  in  the  strongest  language 
he  could  afford  to  use,  condemned  President  Madison  for 
not  adopting  his  scheme  —  and  this  is  the  general  who  would 
have  been  in  command  at  New  Orleans  if  Jackson  at  Natchez 
had  discharged  his  army  as  directed  by  the  Secretary  of 
War. 

Jackson  defended  New  Orleans  with  between  6,000  and 
7,000  men,  5,300  of  them  Tennessee  volunteers  in  hunting 
shirts,  wearing  coonskin  caps,  and  armed  with  squirrel  rifles. 
This  is  the  difference  between  a  general  made  in  the  back- 
room of  a  schoolhouse  and  one  that  God  makes.  Yet  this 
man  belonged  to  the  class  of  military  critics  that  never  get 
done  finding  out  what  a  mistake  was  made  in  making 
Jackson  a  Major  General  in  the  United  States  Army. 

The  elements  in  General  Jackson's  character  that  made 
him  transcendently  great  at  the  head  of  an  army  were  vigi- 
lance, industry,  and  foresight.  That  he  took  a  month  to 
make  a  treaty  with  the  Creek  Indians  was  a  matter  of  some 
surprise  and  caused  some  criticism  at  the  time,  because 
nobody  knew  what  he  was  doing,  except  that  he  was  making 
the  treaty.  But  since  the  books  have  been  opened  it  is  mani- 
fest that  Jackson  was  sleeping  but  little.  The  matters  of  the 
treaty  were  not  neglected,  but  they  were  so  well  attended  to 
that  when  the  treaty  was  made  it  practically  put  an  end  to 
the  great  scourge  of  all  our  frontiers  —  the  Indian  wars. 
But  while  he  was  making  his  treaty,  at  night,  when  other 
people  slept,  that  facile  pen  of  his  was  employed  conferring 
with  the  Governor  of  Tennessee,  the  Governor  of  Georgia, 
the  Governor  of  Louisiana,  and  the  Territorial  Governor  of 
the  Mississippi  Territory,  about  preparations  to  meet  the 


208  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

British,  at  the  same  time  urging  the  Government  to  permit 
him  to  enter  the  Spanish  territory  at  Pensacola,  a  place  used 
by  the  British  ships,  where  the  hostile  Indians  and  runaway 
negroes  were  being  drilled  and  given  arms  to  help  the 
British,  and  the  Governor's  house  a  place  of  rendezvous 
for  British  officers,  with  the  British  flag  flying  over  it.  All 
this  Jackson  knew  by  the  time  the  treaty  was  made.  He 
had  about  him  a  number  of  friendly  Indians,  some  of  whom 
he  had  the  greatest  confidence  in,  and  with  the  help  of 
Colonel  Hawkins,  who  had  been  with  the  Indians  twenty- 
five  years,  he  selected  certain  Indians  who  could  be  relied  on 
and  sent  them  into  Florida  to  get  information. 

He  had  with  him  also  his  old  reliable  standby,  Captain 
Gordon,  who  stood  by  him  when  his  troops  were  leaving  at 
Fort  Strother,  and  who,  when  Jackson  said,  "If  only  two 
men  will  stay  with  me,  I  will  stay  here  and  die  in  the  wilder- 
ness," stepped  out  and  said,  "General,  I  will  stay  with  you." 

Jackson,  in  addition  to  the  friendly  Indians,  sent  Gordon 
to  Pensacola,  who  ascertained  all  the  facts,  and  the  friendly 
Indians  managed  to  get  some  of  the  new  guns,  actually  new 
British  guns,  which  the  treacherous  Governor,  Marequez, 
was  giving  to  the  Indians.  One  of  these  guns  was  brought 
back  to  General  Jackson.  He  found  the  British  were  land- 
ing arms  at  Appalachicola  to  be  distributed  among  the 
Indians. 

As  early  as  July  2ist  he  wrote  to  the  Governor  of  Louis- 
iana, giving  him  the  information  he  had.  He  also  wrote 
the  Secretary  of  War  : 

"If  the  hostile  Indians  have  taken  refuge  in  Florida  and 
are  there  fed  and  clothed  and  protected ;  if  the  British  have 
landed  large  munitions  of  war,  and  are  fortifying  and  stir- 
ring up  the  savages,  will  you  only  say  to  me,  raise  a  few 
hundred  militia,  which  can  be  quickly  done,  and  with  such 
regular  force  as  can  be  conveniently  collected,  make  a 
descent  upon  Pensacola  and  reduce  it  ?  If  so,  I  promise  you 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  209 

the  war  in  the  South  shall  have  a  speedy  termination,  and 
English  influence  be  forever  destroyed  with  the  savages  in 
this  quarter." 

This  letter  was  not  answered  in  time.  It  was  written  on 
the  1 8th  of  July,  1814,  and  sent  forward  by  mail.  The 
answer  reached  General  Jackson  on  the  I  /th  of  January,  by 
due  course  of  mail.  The  answer  said : 

"The  case  you  put  is  a- very  strong  one,  and  if  all  the 
circumstances  stated  by  you  are  right,  the  conclusion  is 
irresistible.  It  becomes  our  duty  to  carry  our  arms  where 
we  find  our  enemies. 

"It  is  believed,  and  I  am  so  directed  by  the  President  to 
say,  that  there  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish 
Governor  not  to  break  with  the  United  States,  nor  to  encour- 
age any  conduct  on  the  part  of  her  subordinate  agents  having 
a  tendency  to  such  rupture.  We  must,  therefore,  in  this 
case,  be  careful  to  ascertain  facts,  and  even  to  distinguish 
what,  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish  authorities,  may  be  the 
effect  of  menace  and  compulsion  or  of  their  choice  and 
policy;  the  result  of  this  inquiry  must  govern.  If  they 
admit,  feed,  arm,  and  co-operate  with  the  British  and  hostile 
Indians,  we  must  strike  on  the  broad  principle  of  self- 
preservation.  Under  other  and  different  circumstances,  we 
must  forbear." 

What  General  Jackson  may  have  thought  when  this  letter 
was  received  on  January  17,  1815,  just  six  months,  lacking 
one  day,  after  he  had  written  the  pressing  letter  to  which 
it  was  a  reply,  will  never  be  known.  Mr.  Eaton,  who  was 
more  intimately  connected  with  General  Jackson  than  any 
of  his  other  friends,  says : 

"How  it  was  so  long  delayed  we  know  not,  nor  shall  we 
undertake  to  conjecture.  One  thing  is  certain  —  the  delay 
cast  upon  General  Jackson  a  degree  of  responsibility  rarely 
put  upon  a  general  in  the  field." 


210  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Mr.  Eaton  says  the  Government  did  know  the  facts  given 
in  the  letter  of  General  Jackson  to  be  true  by  frequent  com- 
munications made  to  it.  And  then  he  makes  this  striking 
comment,  which  I  adopt  as  the  best  thing  that  could  be  said 
about  this  mishap : 

"We  would,  however,  recommend  in  all  cases  where  a 
measure  is  to  be  proceeded  in,  either  from  necessity  or  a 
well-founded  apprehension  of  its  propriety,  that  the  Govern- 
ment should  adopt  it  without  fear  or  trembling,  or  a  regard 
to  the  consequences  involved;  nor  leave  to  be  determined 
by  success  or  failure  of  the  design  whether  an  officer  acting 
upon  his  own  responsibility  and  for  the  good  of  his  country 
shall  become  the  subject  of  commendation  or  reproof." 

This  criticism  carries  with  it  an  implication  of  distrust  as 
to  the  good  faith  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  leaving  the  reader 
to  infer  not  only  that  the  Government  put  the  responsibility 
on  the  general  in  the  field,  but  that  it  intended  to  approve 
or  dissent  from  his  action,  as  might  be  the  Governor's 
interest,  after  the  general  had  acted;  and  but  for  the  fact 
that  it  was  the  Government,  the  Secretary  of  War,  who, 
from  his  high  position  and  sacred  trust,  cannot,  by  anything 
less  than  affirmative  proof  of  the  highest  character,  be  impli- 
cated in  shirking  a  responsibility  of  such  supreme  importance 
and  casting  it  on  a  general  in  the  field ;  therefore,  I  cannot 
believe  the  Secretary  of  War  evaded,  but  neglected,  the  per- 
formance of  this  duty.  The  Secretary  of  War  was  Mr. 
Armstrong,  who  was  a  cautious,  but  not  a  cowardly,  man 
in  the  discharge  of  duty.  Having  all  the  facts,  it  was  clearly 
the  duty  of  the  Executive  Department  of  the  Government, 
in  a  great  emergency,  unless  Congress  was  in  session ;  then 
the  matter  might  be  submitted  to  Congress,  for  it  was 
making  war  on  Spain. 

From  July  to  November  General  Jackson  waited  on 
instructions,  having  asked  to  be  allowed  to  enter  Florida 
and  deal  with  the  Spanish  Governor,  who  was  openly  and 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  211 

defiantly  aiding  the  British,  not  only  in  making  Pensacola 
the  base  of  supplies  for  the  army,  but  was  arming  the  Indians 
and  runaway  negroes  to  fight  in  the  British  army.  In  the 
meantime,  as  it  afterwards  turned  out,  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment was  giving  our  Government  the  most  profound  assur- 
ances of  its  neutrality.  General  Jackson,  with  the  strain 
upon  him,  had  become  exceedingly  impatient.  After 
writing  many  letters  imploring  the  Secretary  of  War  to  give 
him  authority  to  go  into  the  Spanish  territory,  he  actually 
lectured  the  Secretary  of  War  in  the  following  language : 

"How  long  will  the  United  States  pocket  the  reproach  and 
open  insults  of  Spain  ?  It  is  alone  by  a  manly  and  dignified 
course  that  we  can  secure  respect  from  other  nations  and 
peace  to  our  own.  Temporizing  policy  is  not  only  a  curse, 
but  a  disgrace  to  any  nation.  It  is  a  fact  that  a  British 
captain  of  marines  is  and  has  for  some  time  past  been 
engaged  in  drilling  and  organizing  the  fugitive  Creeks, 
under  the  eye  of  the  Governor ;  endeavoring  by  his  influence 
and  presents  to  draw  to  his  standard,  as  well,  the  peaceable 
as  the  hostile  Indians. 

"If  permission  had  been  given  me  to  march  against  this 
place  twenty  days  ago,  I  would  ere  this  have  planted  there 
the  American  eagle.  Now,  we  must  trust  alone  to  our  valor 
and  the  justice  of  our  cause." 

General  Jackson  had  already  had  considerable  correspond- 
ence with  the  Spanish  Governor;  had  sent  a  special  mes- 
senger, his  trusted  friend,  to  him  with  letters  informing  him 
of  the  wrongs  being  committed  by  aiding  Captain  Nichols 
in  arming  the  negroes  and  Indians,  in  giving  continued 
shelter  to  British  ships  of  war  in  the  harbor,  and  making 
Pensacola  a  depot  of  supplies ;  in  fact,  making  his  Govern- 
ment an  active  aid  to  the  British. 

To  this  the  Governor  replied,  claiming  that  he  was  doing 
nothing  but  what  he  had  a  right,  under  Spanish  treaties 
with  the  Creek  Indians  and  Great  Britain,  to  do,  and  closing 


212  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  letter  with  an  insulting  reference  to  the  well-known  Jean 
Lafitte's  town  of  refuge,  by  saying  to  Jackson : 

"Turn  your  eyes  to  the  Island  of  Barataria,  and  you  will 
there  perceive  that  within  the  very  territory  of  the  United 
States  pirates  are  sheltered  and  protected,  with  the  manifest 
design  of  committing  hostilities  by  sea  upon  the  merchant 
vessels  of  Spain,  and  with  such  scandalous  notoriety  that  the 
cargoes  of  our  vessels,  taken  by  them,  have  been  publicly 
sold  in  Louisiana." 

He  closed  his  letter  by  intimating  that  General  Jackson 
had  not  used  respectful  language  in  the  correspondence. 

Jackson's  reply  to  this  letter  was  truly  Jacksonian,  as 
follows : 

"Were  I  clothed  with  diplomatic  powers,  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  the  topics  embraced  in  the  wide  range  of 
injuries  of  which  you  complain,  and  which  have  long  since 
been  adjusted,  I  could  easily  demonstrate  that  the  United 
States  have  been  always  faithful  to  their  treaties,  steadfast 
in  their  friendships,  nor  have  ever  claimed  anything  that 
was  not  warranted  by  justice.  They  have  endured  many 
insults  from  the  governors  and  other  officers  of  Spain, 
which,  if  sanctioned  by  their  sovereign,  amounted  to  acts 
of  war,  without  any  previous  declaration  on  the  subject. 
The  property  of  our  citizens  has  been  captured  at  sea,  and  if 
compensation  has  not  been  refused,  it  has  at  least  been  with- 
held. But  as  no  such  powers  have  been  delegated  to  me,  I 
shall  not  assume  them,  but  leave  them  to  the  representatives 
of  our  respective  Governments. 

"I  have  the  honor  of  being  entrusted  with  the  command 
of  this  district.  Charged  with  its  protection,  and  the  safety 
of  its  citizens,  I  feel  my  ability  to  discharge  the  task,  and 
trust  your  Excellency  will  always  find  me  ready  and  willing 
to  go  forward  in  the  performance  of  that  duty  whenever 
circumstances  shall  render  it  necessary.  I  agree  with  you, 
perfectly,  that  candor  and  polite  language  should  at  all  times 
characterize  the  communications  between  the  officers  of 
friendly  sovereignties,  and  I  assert,  without  the  fear  of  con- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  213 

tradiction,  that  my  former  letters  were  couched  in  terms  the 
most  respectful  and  unexceptionable.  I  only  requested,  and 
did  not  demand,  as  you  asserted,  the  ringleaders  of  the  Creek 
confederacy,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  your  town,  and  who 
have  violated  all  laws,  moral,  civil  and  divine,  should  be 
delivered  up.  This  I  had  a  right  to  do  from  the  treaty 
which  I  sent  you,  and  which  I  now  again  enclose,  with  a 
request  that  you  will  change  your  translation,  believing,  as 
I  do,  that  your  former  one  was  wrong  and  has  deceived  you. 

"What  kind  of  an  answer  you  returned,  a  reference  to 
your  letter  will  explain.  The  whole  of  it  breathes  nothing 
but  hostility,  grounded  upon  assumed  facts  and  false  charges, 
and  entirely  evading  the  inquiries  that  had  been  made. 

"I  can  but  express  my  astonishment  at  the  protest  against 
the  cession  of  Alabama,  lying  within  the  acknowledged 
jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  and  which  has  been  ratified, 
in  due  form,  by  the  principal  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the 
nation.  But  my  astonishment  subsides  when,  in  comparing 
it,  I  find  it  upon  a  par  with  the  rest  of  your  conduct ;  taken 
together,  they  afford  a  sufficient  justification  for  any  conse- 
quences that  may  ensue.  My  Government  will  protect  every 
inch  of  her  territory,  her  citizens,  and  her  property,  from 
insult  and  depredation,  regardless  of  the  political  revolutions 
of  Europe ;  and  although  she  has  been  at  all  times  sedulous 
to  preserve  a  good  understanding  with  all  the  world,  yet  she 
has  sacred  rights  that  cannot  be  trampled  on  with  impunity. 
Spain  had  better  look  to  her  own  intestine  commotions 
before  she  walks  forth  in  that  majesty  of  strength  and  power 
which  you  threaten  to  draw  down  upon  the  United  States. 
Your  Excellency  has  been  candid  enough  to  admit  your 
having  supplied  the  Indians  with  arms.  In  addition  to  this, 
I  have  learned  that  a  British  flag  has  been  seen  flying  on 
one  of  your  forts.  All  this  is  done  whilst  you  are  pretend- 
ing to  be  neutral.  You  cannot  be  surprised  then  —  but,  on 
the  contrary,  will  provide  a  fort  in  your  town  for  my  soldiers 
and  Indians  —  should  I  take  it  in  my  head  to  pay  you  a 
visit. 

"In  future  I  beg  you  to  withhold  your  insulting  charges 
against  my  Government,  for  one  more  inclined  to  listen  to 
slander  than  I  am;  nor  consider  me  any  more  as  a  diplo- 


214  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

matic  character,  unless  so  proclaimed  to  you   from  the 
mouths  of  my  cannon." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  history  a  general  in  com- 
mand of  an  army,  under  more  trying  conditions,  his  own 
Government  knowing  all  the  facts,  refusing  to  say  do  or  not 
do.  By  this  time  he  had  become  fully  aware  that  the  attack 
would  be  on  New  Orleans,  for  he  had  ordered  Carroll,  who 
was  raising  troops  in  Tennessee,  to  go  down  the  river  to 
New  Orleans,  and  he  had  ordered  Coffee,  who  was  raising 
troops  in  Tennessee,  to  cross  the  country  and  reach  Mobile 
'as  soon  as  possible.  He  had  also  made  up  his  mind  as  to 
what  he  would  do  with  the  British  ally  at  Pensacola,  that 
being  easy  of  access  for  the  British  by  water,  and  the  depot 
of  supplies,  and  in  his  rear  when  he  moved  on  New  Orleans, 
and  what  he  did  the  next  chapter  will  tell. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  215 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

JACKSON'S  INDOMITABLE  WILL,  INVINCIBLE  COURAGE  AND 
POWER  TO  INSPIRE  HIS  MEN  ALONE  MADE  POSSIBLE  A 
SUCCESSFUL  CAMPAIGN  IN  THE  SOUTH FOR  THIS 

ALONE  HE  DESERVES  A  MONUMENT  FROM  THE  NATION 

THE    LITTLE-KNOWN    BATTLE    OF    MOBILE JACKSON'S 

CHARACTERISTIC       MODESTY       GIVES       CREDIT       TO       HIS 
OFFICERS    AND    SOLDIERS. 

WHAT  any  other  man  except  Jackson  would  have 
done  in  the  crisis  which  came  at  the  end  of 
the  Creek  campaign,  including  the  treaty 
which  he  made,  may  be  readily  conjectured.  Jackson's  will 
power  is  universally  admitted,  but  his  faith  is  something 
miraculous.  "I  think,"  or  "I  hope,"  were  not  in  his  vocab- 
ulary. "I  will,"  "I  can,"  were  as  handy  as  "By  the  Eternal." 
To  illustrate :  When  on  his  way  out  to  fight  the  Dickerson 
duel — which  he  would  gladly  have  avoided,  but  could  not 
with  his  sense  of  untarnished  manhood  —  he  said  to  his 
second  that  he  should  let  Dickerson  shoot  first;  then  he 
would  kill  Dickerson,  though  he  might  first  be  shot  through 
the  head.  He  did  wait  till  Dickerson  fired,  the  ball  passing 
through  his  body,  inflicting  a  wound  that  lasted  through 
life,  but  neither  his  second  nor  his  surgeon,  standing  by, 
knew  he  had  been  hit  until  they  retired  from  the  field,  not- 
withstanding the  delay;  after  Dickerson  fired,  when  he 
drew  on  Dickerson  the  pistol  snapped.  Then  cocking  his 
pistol,  he  fired  the  fatal  shot. 

He  was  not  only  willing  to  meet  the  British  army  with 
volunteers  yet  to  be  raised,  but  implored  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  let  him  do  with  the  Spaniards,  allies  of  the  British, 


216  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

what  he  had  done  with  the  other  ally,  the  Creek  Indians ; 
that  is,  take  care  of  the  Spanish  Governor  at  Pensacola,  with 
his  Indians  and  runaway  negroes,  backed  up  by  a  British 
captain  of  marines,  before  he  moved  out  to  fight  Old 
England. 

Jackson's  genius  in  war,  but  for  his  ability  to  accomplish 
everything  he  undertook,  would  have  been  regarded  by  the 
average  military  man  as  inexcusable  rashness.  Jackson 
was  not  moving  in  the  dark.  What  he  had  before  him  was 
visible.  So  sure  were  the  English  people,  and  especially 
the  army  and  navy,  that  nothing  was  concealed  in  England 
or  on  their  islands  out  near  our  coasts ;  in  fact,  they  seemed 
anxious  to  make  all  their  plans  as  public  as  possible.  The 
advance  fleet  was  in  command  of  the  Honorable  W.  H. 
Percy,  of  the  ship  Hermes;  the  commander  of  the  troops 
was  Lieut.-Col.  Edward  Nichols.  Early  in  September, 
1814,  this  fleet  came  over  from  Havana,  and  the  ships  took 
shelter  in  the  harbor  at  Pensacola,  and  Colonel  Nichols  made 
the  Governor's  office  his  headquarters  and  ran  up  the  British 
flag.  The  first  thing  the  daring  British  upstart  did  was  to 
issue  to  his  soldiers  an  order,  signing  it,  "Edward  Nichols, 
commanding  His  Britannic  Majesty's  forces  at  Pensacola" : 
"Soldiers,  you  are  called  upon  to  discharge  a  duty  of  the 
utmost  peril.  You  will  have  to  perform  long  and  tedious 
marches  through  wildernesses,  swamps,  and  water  courses; 
your  enemy,  from  long  habit  inured  to  the  climate,  will  have 
great  advantage  over  you.  But  remember  the  twenty-one 
years  of  toil  and  glory  of  your  country,  and  resolve  to  follow 
the  example  of  your  glorious  companions,  who  have  fought 
and  spilt  their  blood  in  her  service." 

This  address  was  extended  to  great  length,  principally 
his  great  Government  and  himself. 

This  order  to  the  army  and  the  proclamation  to  the  people 
of  Louisiana  and  Kentucky  were  immediately,  or  at  least  as 
soon  as  they  could  be  carried,  published  in  New  Orleans 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  217 

papers,  and,  in  fact,  in  the  leading  newspapers  all  over  the 
United  States,  so  that  not  only  from  what  was  being  done 
in  England,  and  from  General  Jackson's  letters  in  July  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  but  from  the  commander  of  forces 
at  Pensacola,  the  Government  had  the  first  information 
of  the  supremely  critical  and  dangerous  condition  of 
General  Jackson,  commanding  all  the  forces  in  the  South. 
This  was  in  September.  The  Government  not  only  gave 
him  no  help,  but  refused  to  answer  his  July  letter  and  his 
earnest  appeal  to  be  allowed  to  invade  the  Spanish  territory. 
To  tell  the  plain  truth,  the  Government  was  letting  the 
South  take  care  of  itself,  giving  all  the  support  to  the  shat- 
tered and  defeated  armies  in  the  North,  hoping  to  protect 
the  cities  of  the  section  which  was  being  so  completely  over- 
run by  the  British. 

This  is  a  period  in  General  Jackson's  career  that  puts  him 
first  on  the  list  of  Americans.  The  Government  made  him 
Major  General  in  the  United  States  Army,  but  gave  him  no 
army,  and  practically  said  to  him,  Get  your  army  as  best 
you  can,  and  take  care  of  the  Southwest,  while  the  Govern- 
ment takes  care  of  the  Northern  frontiers;  and  this,  too, 
after  the  Government  had  the  fullest  information  from  its 
diplomatic  service  in  Europe  of  the  preparations  being  made 
to  overrun  the  South.  General  Jackson  not  only  raised  his 
army  and  took  care  of  the  Southwest,  but  he  took  care  of  the 
nation's  army  by  hanging  out  a  signal  which  all  the  nations 
of  Europe  have  seen  and  respected.  Jackson  did  it,  and 
while  the  great  British  captain  that  Jackson  sent  back  to 
England  in  a  coffin,  with  his  respects,  has  a  monument  in 
St.  Paul  for  all  Britons  to  look  at,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  never  laid  a  slab  over  the  grave  of  the 
immortal  soldier,  and  but  for  the  timely  interference  of 
General  Bate  in  the  Senate,  would  recently  have  removed 
the  equestrian  statue  in  the  public  grounds  at  Washington 
to  an  obscure  place,  so  that  the  soldiers,  statesmen,  and 


218  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

fashionable  people  of  Washington  could  have  a  better  view 
of  the  grass  and  trees  in  a  capitol  that  Jackson  immortalized 
both  in  war  and  in  council.  The  people  of  the  Southwest, 
when  they  get  rich  enough,  ought  to  build  a  monument  to 
this  great  American  that  will  reach  nearer  the  skies  than 
any  shaft  that  the  coming  generation  will  erect,  unless  a 
greater  than  Jackson  will  arise  to  proclaim  the  liberties  of 
the  people. 

When  it  became  manifest  that  the  Secretary  of  War  was 
not  going  to  answer  his  letters,  and  that  he  was  to  practi- 
cally have  no  assistance  from  the  Government,  Jackson  was 
quick  to  determine  his  course. 

Early  in  October  it  was  known  by  appearances  that  the 
British  army  and  navy  were  going  to  operate  against  the 
South  from  Jamaica.  General  Jackson  was  not  slow  in 
determining  that  the  attack  would  be  on  New  Orleans.  To 
overrun  and  subjugate  the  South,  as  had  been  shown  by 
unquestioned  evidence,  the  purpose,  as  he  concluded,  would 
be  to  ascend  the  Mississippi  River;  yet  he  did  not  doubt 
that  both  Pensacola  and  Mobile  would  be  used  as  means  of 
flanking  him  when  he  got  to  New  Orleans.  Therefore,  he 
decided  that  both  must  be  taken  care  of.  The  entrance  to 
Mobile  Bay  he  regarded  as  a  most  important  point,  so 
important  that,  over  the  dissenting  opinion  of  all  the  officers 
whom  he  could  consult  with  confidence  and  propriety,  Gen- 
eral Jackson  made  up  his  mind  to  defend  the  entrance  to  the 
bay.  Upon  examination,  he  found  Fort  Bowyer,  an  old 
fort  at  the  entrance,  in  a  most  dilapidated  condition.  He 
immediately  put  Major  William  Lawrence,  of  the  Second 
Infantry,  in  command  to  repair  the  fort  as  far  as  possible, 
and  with  160  men,  many  of  them  raw  troops,  to  defend  it. 
The  Tennessee  troops  had  not  arrived ;  in  fact,  Coffee  and 
Carroll  were  just  getting  ready  to  move,  one  (Coffee)  under 
orders  to  come  to  Mobile  as  rapidly  as  possible;  the  other 
(Carroll)  to  hurry  up  his  boats  and  meet  Jackson  at  New 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  219 

Orleans.  But  with  Jackson's  knowledge  of  the  facts,  he 
believed  Nichol's  first  move  would  be  to  reach  Mobile. 
Hence  he  spent  his  days  in  giving  instructions  about  repair- 
ing the  fort  and  making  defense  when  the  time  came,  and 
his  nights  in  praying  that  Blucher  (Coffee)  would  come. 

Suddenly,  however,  and  before  Coffee  came,  Nichols,  with 
four  ships  commanded  by  Captain  Percy  —  these  ships  were 
the  Hermes,  Captain  Percy,  twenty-two  guns ;  the  Sophia, 
in  command  of  Captain  Lockyer,  eighteen  guns ;  then  The 
Carron,  eighteen  guns,  and  the  C holers,  eighteen  guns  —  all 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Percy,  as  brave  an  officer 
as  belonged  to  the  British  marine  —  came  down  upon  the 
improvised  fort.  Nichols  had  landed  600  Indians  that  he 
and  Manuez  had  organized  at  Pensacola,  with  other  infantry 
under  his  command.  The  officers  and  men  all  came  together 
and  took  an  oath  in  substance  to  defend  the  fort  until  it  was 
shot  away,  and  to  die  rather  than  surrender  without  a  guar- 
antee against  the  Indian  cruelties.  The  early  biographers 
have  differed  somewhat  about  the  battle,  but  I  give  here  the 
report  made  by  Major  Lawrence  to  General  Jackson,  and 
Jackson's  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 

"General  Jackson  to  Hon.  James  Moore : 

"SiR: — With  lively  emotions  of  satisfaction  I  communi- 
cate that  success  has  crowned  the  efforts  of  our  brave  sol- 
diers in  resisting  and  repulsing  a  combined  British  naval 
and  land  force,  which  on  the  I5th  instant  attacked  Fort 
Bowyer  on  the  point  of  Mobile. 

"I  enclose  a  copy  of  the  official  report  to  Major  William 
Lawrence,  of  the  Second  Infantry,  who  commanded.  In 
addition  to  the  particulars  communicated  in  his  letter,  I 
have  learned  that  the  ship  which  was  destroyed  was  the 
Hermes,  of  from  24.  to  28  guns,  Captain  The  Honorable 
Wm.  H.  Percy,  senior  officer  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  and 
the  brig  so  considerably  damaged  is  The  Sophie,  18  guns, 
Capt.  William  Lockyer.  The  other  ship  was  The  Carron, 
of  from  24  to  28  guns,  Captain  Spencer,  son  of  Earl 


220  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Spencer ;  the  other  brig's  name  unknown.  On  board  of  the 
Carron  eighty-five  men  were  killed  and  wounded,  among 
whom  was  Colonel  Nichol,  of  the  Royal  Marines,  who  lost 
an  eye  by  a  splinter.  The  land  force  consisted  of  no 
marines  and  200  Creek  Indians,  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Woodbine,  of  the  marines,  and  about  twenty  artil- 
lerists, with  one  four-and-a-half -inch  howitzer,  from  which 
they  discharged  shells  and  nine-pound  shot.  They  re-em- 
barked the  piece  and  retreated  by  land  towards  Pensacola, 
whence  they  came. 

"By  the  morning  report  of  the  i6th,  there  were  present 
in  the  fort,  fit  for  duty,  officers  and  men,  158.  The  result 
of  this  engagement  has  stamped  the  character  of  the  war 
in  this  quarter  highly  favorable  to  the  American  arms.  It 
is  an  event  from  which  may  be  drawn  the  most  favorable 
augury.  An  achievement  so  glorious  in  itself,  and  so  im- 
portant in  its  consequences  should  be  appreciated  by  the 
Government;  and  those  concerned  are  entitled  to,  and  will 
doubtless  receive,  the  most  gratifying  evidence  of  the  ap- 
probation of  their  country. 

"In  the  words  of  Major  Lawrence,  'Where  all  behaved 
well  it  is  unnecessary  to  discriminate.'  But  all  being  meri- 
torious, I  beg  leave  to  annex  the  names  of  the  officers  who 
were  engaged  and  present,  and  hope  they  will,  individually, 
be  deemed  worthy  of  distinction. 

"Major  William  Lawrence,  Second  Infrantry,  command- 
ing; Captain  Walsh,  of  the  artillery;  then  Captains  Cham- 
berlain, Brownlow,  and  Bradley,  of  the  Second  Infantry; 
Captain  Sands,  Deputy  Commissary  of  Ordnance;  Lieu- 
tenants Vilard,  Sturges,  Conway,  H.  Sanders,  T.  R.  San- 
ders, Brooks,  Davis  and  C.  Sanders,  all  of  the  Second  In- 
fantry. 

"I  am  confident  that  your  own  feelings  will  lead  you  to 
participate  in  my  wishes  on  this  subject.  Permit  me  to 
suggest  the  propriety  and  justice  of  allowing  to  this  gallant 
band  the  value  of  the  vessel  destroyed  by  them.  I  remain, 
etc., 

"ANDREW  JACKSON, 
"Brigadier  General  Commanding. 
"The  Honorable  Secretary  of  War" 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  221 

The  following  is  the  "official  report  of  Maj.  William 
Lawrence,"  alluded  to  by  General  Jackson  in  his  letter  to 
the  Secretary  of  War : 

"Major  Lawrence  to  General  Jackson: 

"FORT  BOWYER,  September  15,  1814. 

"SiR : — After  writing  the  enclosed,  I  was  prevented  by  the 
approach  of  the  enemy  from  sending  it  by  an  express.  At 
Meridian  they  were  under  full  sail,  with  an  easy  and  favor- 
able breeze,  standing  directly  for  the  fort,  and  at  4  p.  M.  we 
opened  our  battery,  which  was  returned  from  two  ships  and 
two  brigs  as  they  approached.  The  action  became  general 
at  about  20  minutes  past  4,  and  was  continued  without 
intermission  on  either  side  until  7,  when  one  ship  and  two 
brigs  were  compelled  to  retire.  The  leading  ship,  sup- 
posed to  be  the  Commodore,  mounted  twenty-two  32-pound 
cannonades,  having  anchored  nearest  our  battery,  was  so 
much  disabled,  her  cable  being  cut  by  our  shot,  that  she 
drifted  on  shore,  within  600  yards  of  the  battery,  and  the 
other  vessels  having  gotten  out  of  our  reach,  we  kept  such 
a  tremendous  fire  upon  her  that  she  was  set  on  fire  and 
abandoned  by  the  few  of  the  crew  who  survived.  At  10 
p.  M.  we  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  the  explosion  of 
her  magazine.  The  loss  of  lives  on  board  must  have  been 
immense,  as  we  are  certain  no  boats  left  her  except  three, 
which  had  previously  gone  to  her  assistance,  and  one  of 
these,  I  believe,  was  sunk;  in  fact,  one  of  her  boats  was 
burnt  alongside  of  her. 

"The  brig  that  followed  her  I  am  certain  was  much 
damaged,  both  in  hull  and  rigging.  The  other  two  did  not 
approach  near  enough  to  be  injured,  but  I  am  confident  they 
did  not  escape,  as  a  well-directed  fire  was  kept  on  them  dur- 
ing the  whole  time. 

"During  the  action,  a  battery  of  a  12-pounder  and  a 
howitzer  was  opened  on  our  rear,  but  without  doing  any 
execution,  and  was  silenced  by  a  few  shot.  Our  loss  is  four 
privates  killed,  and  five  privates  wounded. 

"Toward  the  close  of  the  action  the  flag-staff  was  shot 
away,  but  the  flag  was  immediately  hoisted  on  a  spun-staff 
over  the  parapet.  While  the  flag  was  down,  the  enemy 
kept  up  their  most  incessant  and  tremendous  fire;  the  men 


222  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP 

were  withdrawn  from  the  curtains  and  northeast  bastion,  as 
the  enemy's  own  shot  completely  protected  our  rear,  except 
the  position  they  had  chosen  for  their  battery. 

"Where  all  behave  well  it  is  unnecessary  to  discriminate. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  every  officer  and  man  did  his  duty ;  the 
whole  behaved  with  that  coolness  and  intrepidity  which  is 
characteristic  of  the  true  American,  and  which  could  scarcely 
have  been  expected  from  men,  most  of  whom  had  never 
seen  an  enemy,  and  were  now  for  the  first  time  exposed 
nearly  three  hours  to  a  force  of  nearly  or  quite  four  guns  to 
one. 

"We  fired  during  the  action  between  four  hundred  and 
five  hundred  guns,  most  of  them  double  shotted,  and  after 
the  first  half-hour  but  few  missed  effect. 

"SEPTEMBER  i6TH,  n  O'CLOCK  A.  M. 

"Upon  an  examination  of  our  battery  this  morning  we 
find  upwards  of  three  hundred  shots  and  shotholes  in  the 
inside  of  the  north  and  east  curtains  and  northeast  bastions, 
of  all  calibres,  from  musket  ball  to  32-pound  shot.  In  the 
northeast  bastion  there  were  three  guns  dismounted,  one  of 
which,  a  4-pounder,  was  broken  off  near  the  trunnions  by 
a  32-pound  shot,  and  another  much  battered.  I  regret  to 
say  that  both  the  24-pounders  are  cracked  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  render  them  unfit  for  service. 

"I  am  informed  by  two  deserters  from  the  land  force, 
who  have  just  arrived  here,  and  whom  I  send  for  your  dis- 
posal, that  a  re-enforcement  is  expected,  when  they  will 
doubtless  endeavor  to  wipe  off  the  stain  of  yesterday. 

"If  you  will  send  the  Amelia  down  we  may  probably  save 
most  of  all  the  ship's  guns,  as  her  wreck  is  lying  in  six  or 
seven  feet  of  water,  and  some  of  them  are  just  covered. 
They  will  not,  however,  answer  for  the  fort,  as  they  are 
too  short. 

"By  the  deserters  we  learn  that  the  ship  we  have  de- 
stroyed was  the  Hermes,  but  her  commander's  name  they 
did  not  recollect.  It  was  the  Commodore,  and  he  doubtless 
fell  on  his  quarterdeck,  as  we  had  a  raging  fire  upon  it  at 
about  two  hundred  yards  distance  for  some  time. 

"To  Captain  Sands,  who  will  have  the  honor  of  handing 
you  this  dispatch,  I  refer  you  for  a  more  particular  account 
of  the  movements  of  the  enemy  than  may  be  contained  in 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  223 

my  letters;  his  services,  both  before  and  during  the  action, 
were  of  great  importance,  and  I  consider  fully  justify  me 
in  having  detained  him.  Captain  Walsh  and  several  men 
were  much  burned  in  the  accidental  explosion  of  the  two 
cartridges.  They  are  not  included  in  the  list  of  the 
wounded  heretofore  given. 

"The  enemy's  fleet  this  morning  at  daybreak  were  at 
anchor  in  the  channel,  about  four  miles  from  the  fort. 
Shortly  after  it  got  under  weigh  and  stood  at  sea.  After 
passing  the  bar,  they  hove  to,  and  boats  have  been  con- 
stantly passing  between  the  disabled  brig  and  the  others.  I 
presume  the  former  is  so  much  injured  as  to  render  it 
necessary  to  lighten  her. 

"FIFTEEN  MINUTES  AFTER  i  p.  M. 

"The  whole  fleet  have  this  moment  made  sail  and  are 
standing  to  sea.  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  etc., 

"WILLIAM  LAWRENCE." 

"Major  General  Andrew  Jackson." 

I  give  here  General  Jackson's  letter  in  reply  to  Nichol's 
proclamation  to  the  Louisianians  and  Kentuckians : 

"LOUISIANIANS — The  base,  the  perfidious  Britons  have 
attempted  to  invade  your  country.  They  had  the  temerity 
to  attack  Fort  Bowyer  with  their  incongruous  horde  of  In- 
dian and  negro  assassins.  They  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
that  this  fort  was  defended  by  freemen.  They  were  not 
long  indulged  in  this  error.  The  gallant  Lawrence 
with  his  little  Spartan  band,  has  given  them  a  lecture  that 
will  last  for  ages;  he  has  taught  them  what  men  can  do 
when  fighting  for  their  liberties,  when  contending  against 
slaves.  He  has  convinced  Sir  W.  H.  Percy  that  his  com- 
panions in  arms  are  not  to  be  conquered  by  proclamations; 
that  the  strongest  British  bark  is  not  invulnerable  to  the 
force  of  American  artillery,  directed  by  the  'steady,  nervous 
arm  of  a  freeman. 

"Louisianians,  the  proud  Briton,  the  natural  and  sworn 
enemies  of  all  Frenchmen,  has  called  upon  you,  by  procla- 
mation, to  aid  him  in  his  tyranny,  and  to  prostrate  the  holy 
temple  of  our  liberty.  Can  Louisiana,  can  Frenchmen,  can 


224  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Americans,  ever  stoop  to  be  the  slaves  or  allies  of  Great 
Britain  ? 

"The  proud,  vainglorious  boaster,  Colonel  Nichols, 
when  he  addressed  you,  Louisianians  and  Kentuckians,  has 
forgotten  that  you  were  the  votaries  of  freedom,  or  he  would 
never  have  pledged  the  honor  of  a  British  officer  for  the 
faithful  performance  of  his  promise,  to  lure  you  from  your 
fidelity  to  the  government  of  your  choice.  I  ask  you,  Louis- 
ianians, can  we  place  any  confidence  in  the  honor  of  men 
who  have  quoted  an  alliance  with  pirates  and  robbers? 
Have  not  these  noble  Britons,  these  honorable  men,  Colonel 
Nichols  and  the  Honorable  Capt.  W.  H.  Percy,  the  true 
representatives  of  their  royal  master,  done  this?  Have 
they  not  made  offers  to  the  pirates  of  Barrataria  to  join 
them  and  their  holy  cause?  And  have  they  not  dared  to 
insult  you  by  calling  on  you  to  associate,  as  brethren,  with 
them  in  this  hellish  banditti  ? 

"Louisianians,  the  government  of  your  choice  is  engaged 
in  a  just  and  honorable  contest  for  the  security  of  your  in- 
dividual freedom  and  her  natural  rights.  On  you  a  part 
of  America — the  only  country  on  earth  where  every  man 
enjoys  freedom,  where  its  blessings  are  alike  extended  to 
the  poor  and  the  rich — calls  to  protect  these  rights  from  the 
invading  usurpation  of  Britain,  and  she  calls  not  in  vain. 
I  well  know  that  every  man  whose  soul  beats  high  at  the 
proud  title  of  freeman;  that  every  Louisianian,  either  by 
birth  or  adoption,  will  promptly  obey  the  voice  of  his 
country;  will  rally  'round  the  Eagle  of  Columbia,  secure 
it  from  the  pending  danger,  or  nobly  die  in  the  last  ditch 
in  its  defense. 

"The  individual  who  refuses  to  defend  his  rights  when 
called  upon  by  his  government  deserves  to  be  a  slave,  and 
must  be  punished  as  an  enemy  to  his  country  and  a  friend 
to  her  foe. 

"The  undersigned  has  been  entrusted  with  the  defense 
of  your  country.  On  you  he  relies  to  aid  him  in  this  im- 
portant duty;  in  this  reliance  he  hopes  not  to  be  mistaken. 
He  trusts  in  the  justice  of  his  cause  and  the  patriotism  of 
his  country.  Confident  that  any  future  attempt  to  invade 
our  soil  will  be  repelled  as  the  last,  he  calls  not  upon  either 
pirates  or  robbers  to  join  him  in  the  glorious  cause. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  225 

"Your  Governor  has  been  fully  authorized  by  me  to 
organize  any  volunteer  company,  batallion,  or  regiment 
which  may  proffer  its  services  under  this  call,  and  is  in- 
formed of  their  probable  destination.  Respectfully  sub- 
mitted, ANDREW  JACKSON/' 

I  am  sure  readers  of  American  history  will  approve  of 
this  entire  record.  Every  scrap  of  it  being  official  and  new 
nearly  all  who  read  it  will  feel  as  I  do  —  that  it  was  a  great 
American  battle  and  a  victory  of  which  any  nation  might  be 
proud,  that  our  people  know  but  little  about — the  battle  of 
Fort  Bowyer. 

In  my  intercourse  with  men,  I  have  found  not  half  a 
dozen  who  had  heard  of  the  battle.  But  official  records 
make  it  one  of  the  most  interesting  in  American  history. 

15 


226  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    GALLANT    DEFENSE    OF    FORT    BOWYER THE    DEFEAT 

OF   THE    BRITISH    ON    LAND   AND   WATER ITS   EFFECTS 

FAR-REACHING,    EVEN    INFLUENCING    THE    REASONABLE 

TERMS   OF  THE   TREATY   OF   GHENT THE   SUCCESSFUL 

ATTACK        ON        PENSACOLA JACKSON'S        EXPRESSED 

WILLINGNESS     TO     PERSONALLY     BEAR     THE     POSSIBLE 
DISAPPROVAL  OF  HIS  TARDY   GOVERNMENT. 

THE  report  made  by  the  gallant  defender  of  Fort 
Bowyer  and  the  report  made  by  General  Jackson  to 
the  Secretary  of  War,  as  shown  in  the  last  chapter, 
in  no  sense  fill  up  the  measure  of  historic  research  of  a 
period  greatly  neglected  in  American  history,  but  laden  with 
living  issues.  Some  of  the  biographies  of  General  Jackson 
give  this  great  event  but  a  passing  notice.  It  is  due  to  his- 
tory, as  well  as  to  the  immortal  hero,  whose  genius  in  war 
was  as  wide  as  the  horoscope,  to  show  fully  what  estimate 
General  Jackson  put  on  the  defense  of  Mobile  Bay,  which, 
if  at  all,  had  to  be  defended  at  the  entrance,  where  stood  the 
old  dilapidated  Spanish  Fort  Bowyer. 

As  rapidly  as  possible,  after  he  closed  up  the  Creek  cam- 
paign at  Fort  Jackson  by  making  the  treaty,  he  com- 
menced to  repair  this  old  fort.  From  the  movements  of 
Captain  Percy  at  Pensacola,  and  the  impudence  of  Colonel 
Nichols  in  handling  the  Indians  and  runaway  negroes,  and 
the  great  advantage  in  a  strategic  point  of  view  which  Mobile 
would  be  to  the  British,  General  Jackson  became  satisfied  he 
had  before  him  a  work  of  vast  moment  at  the  Bowyer ;  for 
if  Mobile  could  not  be  defended  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay  it 
could  not  be  at  all.  General  Jackson  impressed  upon 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  227 

Major  Lawrence  and  the  men  under  him  that  Fort  Bowyer 
must  be  defended,  or  the  campaign  would  be  a  failure.  It 
must  be  defended,  he  said,  or  the  Creek  campaign  would 
bring  no  results.  While  the  fort  was  being  repaired, 
Jackson  had  put  into  its  defense  Maj.  William  Lawrence,  of 
the  Second  Regiment,  as  gallant  a  soldier  as  ever  stood  by 
a  gun,  with  160  men  under  him,  scarcely  one  of  whom  had 
ever  been  seriously  on  trial.  The  command  was  made  up 
of  a  few  regulars,  and  such  forces  as  Jackson  had  been  able 
to  organize  while  waiting  Coffee's  and  Carroll's  return. 

While  Jackson  found  nothing  in  the  fort  but  some  old 
cannon  and  cannon  balls,  there  was,  it  seemed,  always  a 
magic  in  his  genius  that  met  every  emergency,  and  when 
the  British  ships  from  Pensacola  came  in  sight  Jackson  had 
supplied  all  the  ammunition  needed,  and  on  that  day  Jack- 
son was  back  in  Mobile  sending  out  a  schooner  with  rein- 
forcements. This  force  did  not  reach  the  fort,  for  the  whole 
was  a  scene  of  fire,  and  the  schooner  retired  to  a  safe  place 
and  waited  events. 

Little  attention  as  has  been  paid  to  this  battle,  and  little 
as  the  American  people  know  about  it,  it  was  one  of  the 
most  important  in  our  history,  and  was  one  of  the  most  ter- 
rific and  courageous  fights  in  which  Americans  ever  partici- 
pated. It  was  September  12,  when,  as  Jackson  had  antici- 
pated, both  a  land  and  naval  force  made  an  attack.  The 
fort  had  no  bomb  proof,  and  mounted  but  two  24-pounders, 
six  12-pounders,  and  twelve  smaller  pieces,  and  it  was  over- 
looked by  some  tall  hills. 

Early  in  the  day  of  the  I2th  it  was  seen  that  a  force  under 
Colonel  Nichols  had  landed  on  the  peninsula  and  was  moving 
into  position.  It  consisted  of  130  marines  and  600  Indians. 
Later  in  the  day  four  British  vessels  of  war  hove  in  sight, 
dropped  down  towards  the  fort,  and  cast  anchor.  These 
turned  out  to  be  the  Hermes,  Captain  Percy,  twenty-two 
guns;  the  Sophie  in  command  of  Captain  Lockyer,  18  guns; 


228  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  Carron,  20  guns;  and  the  Chilers,  18  guns.  The  whole 
was  under  command  of  Captain  Percy,  a  brave  officer  and 
tried  soldier. 

From  the  I2th  to  the  I5th  the  warships  remained  at  an- 
chor, with  little  stir  save  some  land  reconnoissance,  but  on 
the  morning  of  the  I5th  as  the  fog  cleared  away  all  was 
astir,  and  Major  Lawrence  saw  the  time  had  come;  then 
it  was  that  in  good  soldier  style  he  called  his  men  around 
him,  and  with  warm  greetings  every  man  pledged  every 
other  man  that  he  would  be  there  when  the  fort  was  shot 
away,  dead  or  alive.  The  watchword  was:  "Don't  you 
give  up  the  fort." 

Early  in  the  day  the  ships  weighed  anchor  and  stood  out 
to  sea,  and  as  soon  as  the  breeze  was  favorable  Captain  Percy, 
leading  the  squadron,  with  the  courage  of  a  Nelson,  ran  the 
Hermes  right  into  the  narrow  channel  that  leads  into  the 
bay  and  dropped  anchor  within  musket  shot  of  the  fort, 
and  turned  its  broadside  to  the  guns.  The  other  ships  of 
war  followed  the  example  of  the  Hermes,  and  all  anchored 
in  the  channel  within  reach  of  the  fort's  guns.  From  the 
very  start  the  cannonading  shook  the  earth.  One  single 
broadside  from  the  southern  wing  of  the  fort  into  Nichol's 
camp  of  Indians,  who  were  to  do  the  land  fighting,  was 
enough  to  keep  them  behind  the  hills.  Jackson  was  back 
in  Mobile  improvising  material  and  men  to  reinforce  the 
fort  when  the  battle  commenced.  No  man  ever  spent  a  day 
of  deeper  anxiety. 

This  wonderful  display  of  amphibious  genius  in  war  by 
the  great  American  Irishman  fighting  a  battle  on  the  sea,  is 
emphasized  by  American  book  makers,  leaving  it  without  a 
name  and  so  overshadowed  by  the  glory  of  New  Orleans 
soon  after,  that  its  place  in  our  history  is  still  in  the  musty 
records  at  Washington. 

I  take  the  liberty  of  naming  it  the  "Battle  of  Fort 
Bowyer." 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  229 

Fearing,  which  turned  out  to  be  true,  that  the  recruits  he 
sent  out  in  the  morning  had  not  reached  the  fort  before  the 
battle  commenced,  and  knowing  the  inexperience  of  many 
of  his  men  and  the  powerful  odds  against  them,  he  could 
but  feel  the  greatest  anxiety.  The  battle  raged  till  in  the 
night,  when  a  great  explosion  took  place  that  shook  the 
ground  even  up  to  Mobile.  It  was  at  once  said  the  British 
had  blown  up  the  fort.  While  Jackson  was  not  willing  to 
admit  this,  there  came  upon  him  one  of  those  fits  of  courage 
and  confidence  which  never  belonged  to  any  other  man. 
He  said :  "If  they  have  blown  up  the  fort  we  can't  give  up 
Mobile ;  we  can  only  defend  it  at  the  entrance  of  the  bay" ; 
and  before  day  he  had  improvised  a  command,  seized  a 
schooner,  and  was  on  his  way  down  to  the  entrance  to  meet 
whatever  there  might  be  there.  This  was  Jackson-like. 
He  had  said  to  lose  Mobile  was  to  make  the  Creek  campaign 
a  failure,  and  to  defeat  all  his  plans  for  the  future. 

Going  down  the  bay,  he  met  Major  Lawrence's  express 
and  heard  the  news.  Instead  of  the  fort  being  blown  up, 
Lawrence  and  his  men  by  well-directed  shots  had  blown  up 
the  Hermes  and  sunk  her,  and  had  literally  shot  to  pieces  all 
the  other  ships,  and  they  had  gone  limping  back  to  Pensa- 
cola.  So  Captain  Percy  had  gone  back  minus  his  great  ship ; 
Colonel  Nichols  had  gone  back  minus  one  eye;  they  had 
carried  back  seventy-two  of  their  command  dead  and 
wounded,  and  the  Indians  had  been  left  in  the  woods,  like 
wild  hogs,  to  take  care  of  themselves  as  best  they  could. 

In  the  fort,  with  the  exception  of  four  men  killed  and  four 
wounded,  every  man  was  standing  to  his  gun.  Two  of 
the  guns  in  the  fort  had  been  injured,  and  others  had  been 
disabled.  The  entire  fort  had  been  literally  shot  to  pieces, 
but  not  one  man  had  flinched.  More  than  three  hundred 
cannon  balls  had  struck  the  fort.  Two  guns  had  been 
cracked  and  two  shot  off  the  carriages,  while  only  twelve 
pieces  had  been  brought  into  action.  The  stock  of  ammu- 


230  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

nition  showed  that  seven  hundred  cannon  balls  had  been 
fired  at  the  ships,  and  so  completely  was  the  Hermes  shot 
to  pieces  that  Captain  Percy  had  great  difficulty  in  transfer- 
ring his  wounded  to  the  Sophie,  which  was  so  crippled  that 
she  barely  limped  away  and  got  out  of  the  reach  of  the 
guns  in  the  fort. 

The  significance  of  the  great  victory  at  Mobile  may  not 
be  readily  perceived.  Its  place  in  history  can  only  be  ap- 
preciated by  its  environments.  It  was  the  first  battle  ever 
fought  by  the  British  in  what  is  known  as  the  great  South- 
west. A  few  troops  from  the  Southwest  fought  at  King's 
Mountain,  but  the  battle  was  east  of  the  mountain.  In  the 
second  place,  it  was  the  first  victory  gained  by  a  land  force 
over  the  British,  though  the  war  had  been  raging  for  more 
than  two  years.  In  the  third  place,  fought  on  the  I5th  of 
September,  the  news  reached  Europe  in  time  to  have  its 
effect  in  the  making  of  the  treaty  at  Ghent.  The  entire 
loss  of  the  Creek  Nation  as  an  ally,  caused  by  a  backwoods- 
general  whose  genus  homo  had  hardly  been  discovered, 
but  who  turned  out  to  be,  when  he  came  to  the  water,  a 
sort  of  amphibious  fighter,  waked  up  the  other  side  to  what 
was  going  on  in  the  South,  namely,  a  real  struggle  for  free- 
dom under  a  great  leader,  for,  indeed,  it  was  Jackson  who 
made  the  treaty  of  Ghent  with  reasonable  terms  possible. 

But  lastly  and  mainly,  it  was  the  opening  gun  of  the 
short,  decisive  struggle  between  Great  Britain  on  one  side 
and  a  section  of  the  United  States,  the  Southwest,  in  which 
was  developed  the  most  marvelous  heroism  in  defense 
of  liberty  at  home  when  invaded  by  hostile  foes  that 
had  been  seen.  Of  course  I  do  not  have  reference 
alone  to  the  fighting  quality  exhibited  by  the  men  of 
the  Southwest,  but,  as  well,  a  prompt  readiness  to  make  any 
sacrifice  and  meet  the  enemy  with  alacrity  and  cheerful- 
ness, though  to  the  intelligent  man  who  weighs  all  the  facts 
the  fatal  end  was  almost  as  visible  as  was  the  end  to  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  231 

Spartans  who  died  at  Thermopolae.  The  conditions  at 
the  time  Jackson  made  the  fight  for  the  defense  of  Mobile 
made  success  over  the  British  in  the  final  struggle  only  a 
few  weeks  off  at  most  —  a  madman's  dream  with  any  other 
man  than  Andrew  Jackson. 

One  of  the  sorest  trials  that  ever  came  to  Jackson's  active, 
impetuous  life  happened  during  the  six  weeks  after  the  vic- 
tory at  Fort  Bowyer.  He  had  been  made  a  Major  General 
in  the  United  States  Army,  but  so  much  was  the  Govern- 
ment concerned  about  defending  the  cities  on  the  Northern 
frontier,  where  everything  was  in  favor  of  the  British,  and 
where  our  soldiers  seemed  wholly  unable  to  contend  with  a 
trained  army,  that  literally  no  attention  was  paid  to  General 
Jackson,  and,  indeed,  no  steps  whatever  were  taken  to  give 
him  an  army.  This  is  passing  strange,  when  we  turn  back 
and  look  at  the  letters  already  published  in  these  sketches 
from  Mr.  Gallatin  and  others  of  our  ministers  in  Europe, 
all  showing  that,  the  French  war  having  closed  by  the 
capitulation  of  Napoleon,  the  strength  of  the  British  army 
was  to  be  employed  in  the  South  —  the  North,  as  England 
regarded  it,  having  already  been  conquered. 

Finding  himself  in  this  condition,  a  major  general  with- 
out an  army,  the  government  of  Great  Britain  using  a 
friendly  power  as  an  ally,  and  his  own  Government  refusing 
to  tell  him  what  to  do,  he  had  ordered  his  two  trusted  gen- 
erals, Coffee  and  Carroll,  back  to  Tennessee  to  raise  a  third 
army.  Where  the  enemy  might  come,  when  he  would 
strike,  the  murmuring  waves  of  the  sea  would  not  tell. 
Scouts  were  of  no  avail.  He  could  put  on  a  bold  front 
with  the  treacherous  Spaniards  at  Pensacola  and  say,  "Any 
further  correspondence  will  be  at  the  mouth  of  my  cannon," 
and  with  a  few  men  at  the  old  fort  in  Mobile  Bay  he  could 
sink  a  British  ship;  but  if  the  British  had  only  known  at 
this  time  what  a  skeleton  of  an  army  this  backwoods  general 


232  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

had  behind  him,  the  campaign  would  have  been  all  that 
England  desired. 

It  was  during  these  awful  days  of  waiting  that  the  cele- 
brated Jean  Lafitte  papers  came  to  light.  Lafitte  had  long 
been  regarded  as  the  "pirate  of  the  gulf  seas."  Forty  miles 
directly  south  of  New  Orleans  is  Grand  Terra,  in  which  is 
the  little  village  of  Barrataria,  the  pirate's  home.  The 
British  sent  a  ship  to  the  "home  of  the  pirates,"  and  con- 
tracted an  alliance  with  the  leader.  They  made  known  to 
him  their  plans,  offering  him  a  large  sum  of  money,  all  of 
which  Lafitte  agreed  to,  and  got  possession  of  their  papers 
with  which  to  form  alliances  with  the  Indians  and  destroy 
the  towns  of  the  coast,  ascend  the  Mississippi  River  and 
destroy  the  country  on  both  sides,  and  finally  meet  the  army 
from  the  Canada  line,  and  thus  overrun  the  entire  country. 
While  Lafitte  had  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  pirate,  he 
was  a  loyal  American.  He  immediately  bundled  up  all  the 
documents  and  sent  them  to  New  Orleans  to  Governor 
Claiborne. 

This  startled  the  officials  who  were  consulted.  A  wide 
difference  of  opinion  arose  as  to  the  honesty  of  Lafitte's  dis- 
closure. The  facts  were  all  published.  Edward  Livingston, 
who  knew  Lafitte,  believed  the  papers  were  genuine,  and 
that  Lafitte  was  loyal,  as  it  afterwards  turned  out  he  was. 

On  October  6th  an  express  reached  General  Jackson, 
informing  him  that  General  Coffee,  with  2,800  Tennesseans, 
had  arrived  on  the  Mobile  River.  General  Jackson  imme- 
diately took  command,  having  long  since  dicided  on  his 
course.  He  dismounted  1,000  men  who  had  entered  the 
service  as  cavalry,  but  who  heartily  said,  "What  General 
Jackson  says  is  law."  The  horses  were  put  out  on  the  cane, 
and  by  pledging  his  personal  credit  he  provided  eight  days' 
rations,  and  got  ready  for  the  move  in  a  remarkably  short 
time  with  the  2,800  Tennesseans  and  such  troops  as  he  had 
at  Mobile,  making  in  all  3,000  men. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  233 

On  November  3d  he  moved  his  army  out  of  Mobile  and 
in  the  direction  of  Pensacola.  On  the  6th  he  captured  the 
city,  and  on  the  7th  his  army  was  headed  for  New  Orleans, 
but  this  is  no  intelligent  sketch  of  what  took  place.  While 
General  Jackson  had  decided  on  his  course  in  reference  to 
invading  with  an  army  the  territory  of  a  friendly  power, 
when  his  own  Government  refused  to  tell  him  what  to  do, 
he  had  fully  determined  to  take  the  responsibility  and  stand 
all  the  punishment  that  might  come  to  him,  giving  the 
Government  the  opportunity,  if  it  saw  proper,  to  protect 
itself  behind  his  assumption  of  authority.  Mr.  Eaton  says 
General  Jackson  had  fully  considered  this,  and  made  up 
his  mind  that  his  own  punishment  was  the  worst  that  could 
come  out  of  it. 

General  Jackson  had  a  way  of  doing  rash  things  with 
great  prudence.  So,  on  reaching  Pensacola,  he  stopped  on 
the  outside  and  sent  a  trusted  soldier,  under  a  flag  of  truce, 
to  the  Governor.  This  officer,  who  was  fired  on,  returned. 
The  British  being  in  the  town  and  having  possession  of  the 
forts,  General  Jackson  concluded  possibly  the  Spanish  Gov- 
ernor might  be  practically  under  duress,  and  again  sent  a 
messenger,  setting  out  with  great  particularity  his  purpose ; 
that  he  meant  no  unfriendly  act  to  Spain,  but  demanding 
the  surrender  of  the  forts,  which  would  be  restored  when 
conditions  justified  it;  that  it  was  the  base  of  supplies  for 
the  British,  and  that  they  were  arming  the  Indians,  and, 
therefore,  he  demanded  surrender  of  the  place. 

In  all  General  Jackson's  military  history  there  is  nothing 
more  Jacksonian  than  two  expressions  connected  with  this 
campaign.  When  he  moved  the  army,  his  order  to  Coffee 
was :  "Rout  the  British  out  of  Pensacola!"  And  when  the 
refusal  to  surrender  the  forts  came  back,  his  order  was: 
"Turn  out  the  soldiers."  When  the  soldiers  were  turned 
out,  he  moved  down  the  streets,  attacking  the  fortifications 
and  capturing  them  as  he  came  to  them.  He  had  about 


234  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

twenty  men  wounded,  none  fatally.  Captain  Lovel,  one 
of  Jackson's  best  officers,  was  dangerously  wounded  while 
leading  his  men  against  the  fortifications. 

In  less  than  six  hours  from  the  time  Jackson  ordered  the 
soldiers  "turned  out,"  he  had  captured  the  fortifications  of 
the  city,  had  driven  the  ships  out  of  the  bay,  had  the  British 
blowing  up  the  Barancas  and  the  other  forts,  their  supplies 
all  destroyed,  and  every  Britain  seeking  the  protection  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  day's  work  was  only  half  over  when 
the  Spanish  Governor  was  out  on  the  streets  begging  to  see 
General  Jackson,  that  he  might  surrender  the  city,  protest- 
ing in  the  most  solemn  manner  that  he  was  not  responsible. 
He  promptly  turned  over  the  city,  with  the  forts,  putting 
all  in  the  hands  of  General  Jackson,  but  soon  thereafter  the 
main  fort,  Barancas,  was  blown  up  and  abandoned  by  the 
British. 

It  is  a  matter  of  history  that,  some  weeks  afterwards,  the 
British  made  an  offer  to  the  Governor  to  repair  the  forts 
they  had  destroyed  on  leaving,  but  he  said  that  if  he  needed 
any  assistance  he  was  going  to  call  on  General  Jackson. 
After  seeing  what  they  saw  at  Fort  Bowyer,  and  then  at 
Pensacola,  the  Indians  disappeared,  and  showed  no  further 
disposition  to  ally  themselves  with  the  British. 


MILL'S    STATUE    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  235 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


THE   MOST   COMPLETE,   POWERFUL  AND    HITHERTO   SUCCESS- 
FUL     NAVAL      FORCE      THAT      GREAT      BRITAIN       COULD 

FURNISH    PREPARED    TO    ATTACK    NEW    ORLEANS THE 

MIXED    POPULATION    OF    THE    CITY    OFFER    NO    AID    TO 
JACKSON    UNTIL    HIS    POWERFUL    APPEAL    RECONCILES 

THE    DISAFFECTED    ELEMENTS THE    VICTORY   AT    NEW 

ORLEANS     ONLY     MADE     POSSIBLE     BY     THE     TENNESSEE 
TROOPS. 

THE  rendezvous  of  the  British  fleet  in  Negril  Bay,  at 
the  western  end  of  the  Island  of  Jamaica,  brought 
together,  about  November  4,  1814,  the  armament, 
the  land  and  naval  forces  with  which  New  Orleans  was  to 
be  captured  and  the  South  subjugated. 

To  properly  estimate  the  service  rendered  his  country  by 
General  Jackson,  the  organized  forces  approaching  our 
shores  must  be  seen.  Fortunately  for  American  history, 
and  that  final  justice,  though  at  a  late  day,  may  be  done  the 
defender  of  New  Orleans,  England  has  furnished  full  and 
complete  information  as  to  the  armament  which  he  had  to 
contend  with.  An  English  writer,  known  as  the  "Sub- 
altern," wrote  up  the  campaign  of  1813  against  Washing- 
ton, and  the  campaign  of  1814-15  against  New  Orleans, 
and  for  his  careful,  painstaking  report  of  these  campaigns 
he  was  complimented  by  Lord  Wellington. 

From  him  the  following  facts  have  been  gathered: 

"It  was  the  rendezvous  of  the  British  fleet  designed  for 
the  capture  of  New  Orleans.  The  day  just  named  was  the 
one  appointed  for  its  final  inspection  and  review,  previous 
to  its  departure  for  Lake  Borgne.  A  fleet  of  fifty  armed 


236  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

vessels,  many  of  them  of  the  first  magnitude,  covered  the 
waters  of  the  bay.  There  lay  the  huge  Tonnant  of  eighty 
guns,  one  of  Nelson's  prizes  at  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  now 
exhibiting  the  pennant  of  Sir  Alexander  Cockrane,  the 
Admiral  in  command  of  this  imposing  fleet.  Rear  Admiral 
Sir  Edward  Codrington  was  also  on  board  the  Tonnant, 
a  name  of  renown  in  the  naval  history  of  England.  There 
was  the  Royal  Oak,  a  seventy-four,  the  ship  of  Rear  Admiral 
Malcolm ;  four  other  seventy-fours,  the  Norge,  the  Bedford, 
the  Asia,  the  Ramilies,  formed  part  of  the  fleet,  the  last 
named  in  command  of  Sir  Thomas  Hardy,  the  beloved  of 
Nelson,  to  whom  the  dying  hero  gasped  those  immortal 
words,  "Kiss  me,  Hardy;  I  die  content."  There,  too,  were 
the  Dictator,  of  fifty  guns ;  the  Gorgon,  of  forty-four ;  the 
Annide,  of  thirty-eight,  commanded  by  Sir  Thomas  Trow- 
bridge,  of  famous  memory;  the  Seashore,  of  thirty-five, 
under  Capt.  James  Alexander  Gordon,  late  the  terror  of  the 
Potomac ;  the  Belle  Poule,  of  thirty-eight,  a  ship  of  fame. 
Nine  other  ships,  mounting  thirty-eight,  thirty-six,  and 
thirty-two  guns ;  five  smaller  vessels,  each  carrying  sixteen 
guns ;  three  bomb  craft  and  eleven  transports,  completed  the 
formidable  catalogue.  Nor  were  these  all  the  vessels  des- 
tined to  take  part  in  the  enterprise.  A  fleet  from  Bordeaux 
was  still  on  the  ocean  to  join  the  expedition  at  the  entrance 
of  Lake  Borgne,  where,  also,  Captain  Percy's  squadron 
from  Pensacola,  with  Nichols  and  the  brave  Captain  Lock- 
yer,  were  to  effect  a  junction.  And  yet  other  vessels,  direct 
from  England,  with  the  general  appointed  to  command  the 
army,  were  expected. 

"The  decks  of  the  ships  in  Negril  Bay  were  crowded  with 
red-coated  soldiers.  The  four  regiments,  numbering,  with 
their  sappers  and  artillerymen,  3,100  men,  who  had  fought 
the  battle  of  Bladensburg,  burnt  the  public  buildings  of 
Washington,  and  lost  their  general  near  Baltimore  the 
summer  before,  were  on  board  the  fleet.  Four  regiments, 
under  General  Keine,  had  come  from  England  direct  to 
reinforce  this  army.  Two  regiments,  composed  in  part  of 
negro  troops,  supposed  to  be  peculiarly  adapted  to  the 
climate  of  New  Orleans,  had  been  drawn  from  the  West 
Indies  to  join  the  expedition.  The  fleet  could  furnish,  if 
required,  a  body  of  1,500  marines.  General  Keine  found 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  237 

himself,  on  his  arrival  from  Plymouth,  in  command  of  an 
army  of  7,450  men,  which  the  marines  of  the  fleet  could 
swell  to  8,950.  The  number  of  sailors  could  scarcely  have 
been  less  than  10,000,  of  whom  a  large  proportion  could, 
and  did,  assist  in  the  operations  contemplated." 

Here  was  a  force  of  nearly  twenty  thousand  men,  a  fleet 
of  fifty  ships,  carrying  1,000  guns,  and  perfectly  appointed 
in  every  particular,  commanded  by  officers,  some  of  whom 
had  grown  gray  in  victory. 

The  greater  part  of  General  Keine's  army  was  fresh  from 
the  Peninsula,  and  had  been  led  by  victorious  Wellington 
into  France,  to  behold  and  share  in  that  final  triumph  of 
British  arms.  To  these  Peninsula  heroes  were  added  the 
Ninety-third  Highlanders,  recently  from  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  —  one  of  the  "praying  regiments"  of  the  British 
Army  —  as  stalwart,  as  brave,  as  completely  appointed  a 
body  of  men  as  had  stood  in  arms  since  Cromwell's  Iron- 
sides gave  liberty  and  greatness  to  England.  Indeed,  there 
was  not  a  regiment  of  those  which  had  come  from  England 
to  form  this  army  which  had  not  won  brilliant  distinction 
in  strongly-contested  fields.  The  elite  of  England's  army 
and  navy  were  afloat  in  Negril  Bay  on  that  bright  day  of 
November,  when  the  last  review  took  place. 

Here  was  a  fighting  force,  army  and  navy,  more  imposing 
and  more  thoroughly  equipped  than  had  at  any  time,  in 
either  the  Revolutionary  War  or  the  then  existing  war, 
ever  approached  the  American  continent.  It  was  a  force 
of  about  20,000  men,  about  one-half  of  which  could  be  used 
as  a  part  of  the  land  forces,  though  they  belonged  to  the 
navy.  In  the  command  were  not  only  the  most  eminent 
soldiers  and  naval  officers  England  had  at  that  time,  but 
most  of  the  soldiers  had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  long 
war  with  France,  which  had  just  closed.  And  in  that  army 
were  many  of  the  soldiers  who  had  the  year  before  gained 
victory  after  victory  over  our  troops  along  the  Canada  line, 


238  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

and  who  had  captured  Washington  and  destroyed  the  public 
buildings;  then  there  was  a  large  amount  of  sentiment. 
The  great  Tonnant,  the  prize  captured  by  Nelson  in  the 
battle  of  the  Nile,  with  her  eighty  guns,  was  a  part  of  the 
fleet,  and  Sir  Thomas  Hardy,  the  beloved  of  Nelson,  was  in 
command  of  one  of  the  ships.  Nothing  in  the  way  of  a  land 
and  naval  force  so  imposing  had  ever  crossed  the  Atlantic. 
The  "Subaltern"  made  the  following  statement  about  this 
fleet: 

"No  man  appeared  to  regard  the  present,  whilst  every 
one  looked  forward  to  the  future.  From  the  general  down 
to  the  youngest  drummer  boy,  a  confident  anticipation  of 
success  seemed  to  pervade  all  ranks,  and  in  the  hope  of  an 
ample  reward  in  store  for  them  the  toils  and  grievances  of 
the  moment  were  forgotten.  Nor  was  this  anticipation  the 
mere  offspring  of  an  overweening  confidence  in  themselves. 
Several  Americans  had  already  deserted,  who  entertained 
us  with  accounts  of  the  alarm  experienced  at  New  Orleans. 
They  assured  us  that  there  were  not  present  5,000  soldiers 
in  the  State ;  that  the  principal  inhabitants  had  long  ago  left 
the  place;  that  such  as  remained  were  ready  to  join  us  as 
soon  as  we  should  appear  among  them ;  and  that,  therefore, 
we  might  lay  our  account  with  a  speedy  and  bloodless  con- 
quest. The  same  persons  likewise  dilated  upon  the  wealth 
and  importance  of  the  town,  upon  the  large  quantities  of 
Government  stores  there  collected,  and  the  rich  booty  which 
would  reward  its  captors  —  subjects  well  calculated  to  tickle 
the  fancy  of  invaders  and  to  make  them  unmindful  of  imme- 
diate afflictions,  in  the  expectation  of  so  great  a  recompense 
to  come. 

"It  is  well  known  that  at  the  period  to  which  my  narrative 
refers,  an  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  subsisted  between 
the  government  of  Great  Britain  and  the  heads  of  as  many 
Indian  nations,  or  tribes,  as  felt  the  aggressions  of  the  set- 
tlers upon  their  ancient  territories,  and  were  disposed  to 
resent  them.  On  this  side  of  the  continent  our  principal 
allies  were  the  Choctaws  and  Cherokees,  two  nations  whom 
war  and  famine  had  reduced  from  a  state  of  comparative 
majesty  to  the  lowest  ebb  of  feebleness  and  distress.  Driven 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  239 

from  hunting-ground  to  hunting-ground,  and  pursued  like 
wild  beasts  wherever  seen,  they  were  now  confined  to  a 
narrow  tract  of  country,  lying  chiefly  along  the  coast  of  the 
gulf  and  the  borders  of  the  lakes  which  adjoin  it.  For  some 
time  previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  expedition,  the  warriors 
of  these  tribes  put  themselves  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Nichols,  of  the  Royal  Marines,  and  continued  to  harass  the 
Americans  by  frequent  incursions  into  the  cultivated  dis- 
tricts. It  so  happened,  however,  that  being  persuaded  to 
attempt  the  reduction  of  a  fort  situated  upon  Mobile  Point, 
and  being,  as  might  be  expected,  repulsed  with  some  loss, 
their  confidence  in  their  leader  and  their  dependence  upon 
British  aid  had  begun  of  late  to  suffer  a  serious  diminution. 
Though  not  very  profitable  as  friends,  their  local  position 
and  desultory  mode  of  warfare  would  have  rendered  them 
at  this  period  exceedingly  annoying  to  us  as  enemies ;  it  was 
accordingly  determined  to  dispatch  an  embassy  to  their 
settlements  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  them  to  good 
humor,  or  at  least  discovering  their  intentions." 

General  Jackson,  in  person,  reached  New  Orleans  on  the 
26.  of  December,  and  to  meet  and  contend  with  this  powerful 
force  the  troops  in  or  near  New  Orleans,  and  its  sole  defend- 
ers as  late  as  the  middle  of  December,  were  these :  Two  half- 
filled,  newly  raised  regiments  of  regular  troops,  numbering 
about  800  men ;  Major  Planche7s  high-spirited  battalion  of 
uniformed  volunteers,  about  500  in  number ;  two  regiments 
of  State  Militia,  badly  equipped,  some  of  them  armed  with 
fowling  pieces,  others  with  muskets,  others  with  rifles,  some 
without  arms,  all  imperfectly  disciplined ;  a  battalion  of  free 
men  of  color;  the  whole  amounting  to  about  2,000  men. 
Two  vessels  of  war  lay  at  anchor  in  the  river,  the  immortal 
little  schooner  Carolina  and  the  ship  Louisiana,  neither  of 
them  manned,  and  no  one  dreaming  of  what  importance 
they  were  to  prove.  Commodore  Patterson  and  a  few  other 
naval  officers  were  in  the  city,  ready  when  the  hour  should 
come,  and,  indeed,  already  rendering  yeoman's  service  in 
many  capacities. 


240  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

The  biographers  of  General  Jackson  and  other  historians 
have  disagreed  as  to  the  condition  of  the  population  at  New 
Orleans  when  Jackson  got  there.  Mr.  Waldo,  I  think,  gives 
the  best  account,  and  I  make  the  following  extracts : 

"Jackson  arrived  at  this  place  upon  the  2d  of  December, 
1814.  A  mere  casuist  may  wonder  why  the  presence  of  a 
single  individual  at  an  exposed  place  is  an  augury  of  its 
safety;  but  it  is  in  vain  for  casuists,  philosophers,  or  stoics 
to  laugh  at  a  sentiment  that  is  common  to  our  nature.  The 
presence  of  Washington  at  Trenton,  and  of  Putnam  at 
Bunker's  Hill,  had  the  same  effect  upon  citizens  and  soldiers 
as  that  of  Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 

"At  no  period  since  the  declaration  of  American  Inde- 
pendence in  July,  1776,  to  December,  1814,  had  an  Ameri- 
can commander  a  duty  of  more  importance  and  difficulty  to 
discharge  than  had  General  Jackson  at  this  portentious 
period.  At  Mobile,  with  means  apparently  wholly  insuffi- 
cient (to  use  his  own  language),  he  had  'a  sickly  climate  as 
well  as  an  enemy  to  contend  with.'  At  New  Orleans  he 
had  to  contend  with  the  consternation  of  the  citizens,  the 
insolence  of  judicial  power,  and  the  timorous  policy  of  the 
Legislature  of  Louisiana,  as  well  as  against  the  most  pow- 
erful land  and  naval  force  that  had  for  forty  years  menaced 
any  one  place  in  the  republic.  He  had  also  to  contend  with 
the  prejudice,  the  favoritism,  and  the  pern" diousn ess  of 
foreigners,  a  vast  number  of  whom  had  migrated  to  Louis- 
iana before  its  accession  to  the  republic  by  Mr.  Monroe's 
treaty. 

"Although  the  proclamation  of  Nichols  excites  in  the 
mind  of  an  intelligent  American  reader  no  feeling  but  that 
of  ineffable  contempt,  yet  with  the  mixed  population  of 
Louisiana  its  effects  might  be  essentially  different.  Although 
among  that  population  were  many  native  Americans  of  dis- 
tinguished talents  and  patriotism,  it  is  without  a  doubt  the 
fact  that  in  1814  a  majority  of  its  inhabitants  were  of  for- 
eign extraction,  and  that  much  of  the  most  numerous  class 
of  foreigners  were  Frenchmen.  They  saw  the  same  for- 
midable power  that  had  recently  taken  the  lead  in  conquering 
the  conqueror  of  Europe,  driving  him  into  exile,  and  restor- 
ing Louis  XVIII  to  the  French  throne,  now  menacing 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  241 

Louisiana  with  a  force  that  seemed  to  be  irresistible.  Span- 
iards in  the  same  power  recognized  the  restorer  of  Ferdinand 
VII.  Englishmen  dared  not  take  up  arms  against  their 
own  countrymen  unless  certain  of  victory.  General  Jackson 
was  aware  that  in  this  discordant  mass  of  people  there  would 
be  many  who  would  not  only  neglect  to  repair  to  the  Ameri- 
can standard,  but  who  would  give  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
enemy.  He  was  also  aware  that  energetic  and  coercive 
measures  to  detect  domestic  traitors,  or  to  conquer  a  power- 
ful foe,  would  meet  with  resistance  from  that  undefined  and 
frequently  unrestrained  spirit  of  liberty  which  foreigners, 
recently  settled  in  the  republic,  almost  invariably  manifest. 
But  it  was  in  vain  for  him  to  wish  for  a  different  state  of 
things,  or  to  pursue  a  course  of  conduct  which  a  different 
state  would  have  rendered  judicious  and  expedient.  He 
was  compelled  to  act  as  circumstances  dictated,  without  the 
power  of  changing  them.  Like  a  great  man  in  danger, 
described  by  a  great  poet,  with  elegance,  'Serene  and  master 
of  himself,  he  prepared  for  what  might  come,  and  left  the 
rest  to  heaven.'  " 

In  General  Coffee  and  General  Carroll,  and  the  gallant 
men  who  he  knew  would  follow  him  to  victory  or  to  death, 
he  could  recognize  officers  and  soldiers  who  would  cheerfully 
unite  with  him  and  the  small  regular  force  he  had  under  his 
command  at  New  Orleans. 

It  was  still,  however,  wholly  uncertain  how  soon  an  effect- 
ive force,  which  would  give  any  hopes  of  a  successful 
defense  of  the  place,  would  arrive. 

General  Jackson  addressed  the  citizens  and  soldiers  of 
Louisiana  in  the  following  impressive  manner : 

"Natives  of  the  United  States:  The  enemy  you  are  to 
contend  with  are  the  oppressors  of  your  infant  political 
existence;  they  are  the  men  your  fathers  fought  and  con- 
quered, whom  you  are  now  to  oppose. 

"Descendants  of  Frenchmen !  Natives  of  France !  They 
are  English  —  the  hereditary,  the  eternal  enemies  of  your 
ancient  country,  the  invaders  of  that  you  have  adopted,  who 
are  your  foes.  Spaniards,  remember  the  conduct  of  your 

16 


242  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

allies  at  St.  Sebastain,  and  recently  at  Pensacola,  and  rejoice 
that  you  have  an  opportunity  of  avenging  the  brutal  injuries 
inflicted  by  men  who  dishonor  the  human  race.  Louisian- 
ians,  your  General  rejoices  to  witness  the  spirit  that  animates 
you,  not  only  for  your  honor,  but  your  safety ;  for  whatever 
had  been  your  conduct  or  wishes,  his  duty  would  have  led, 
and  yet  will  lead,  him  to  confound  the  citizen,  unmindful  of 
his  rights  with  the  enemy  he  ceases.  Commanding  men 
who  know  their  rights  and  are  determined  to  defend  them, 
he  saluted  you  as  brethren  in  arms;  and  has  now  a  new 
motive  to  exert  all  his  faculties,  which  shall  be  strained  to 
the  utmost  in  your  defense. 

"Continue  with  the  energy  you  have  begun,  and  he  prom- 
ises you  not  only  safety,  but  victory  over  an  insolent  foe, 
who  has  insulted  you  by  an  affected  doubt  of  your  attach- 
ment to  the  Constitution  of  your  country.  Your  enemy  is 
near ;  his  sails  already  cover  the  lakes ;  but  the  brave  are 
united;  and  if  he  finds  us  contending  among  ourselves  it 
will  be  for  the  prize  of  valor  and  fame,  its  noblest  reward." 

Considering  the  nature  of  the  people,  and  of  the  troops  he 
had  to  address,  it  is  difficult  to  perceive  of  an  appeal  more 
appropriate.  The  native  Americans  are  pointed  to  "the 
oppressors  of  their  infant  political  existence";  the  natives 
of  France  to  the  "eternal  enemy  of  their  ancient  country, 
the  invaders  of  the  one  they  had  adopted" ;  Spaniards,  too, 
are  reminded  of  "the  brutal  injuries  inflicted"  upon  their 
country  "by  men  who  dishonor  the  human  race." 

The  disaffection  of  the  few  is  easily  checked  when  the 
public  functionaries  discharge  the  necessary  duties  devolved 
upon  them;  but  so  far  were  the  legislative  and  judiciary 
powers  of  the  State  from  calling  in  the  power  of  law  to 
check  the  growing  discontent,  that  they  encouraged  it  by 
conniving  at  it.  Governor  Claiborne  did  everything  which 
a  patriotic  and  vigilant  executive  could  do;  but  a  majority 
of  the  Legislature,  nerveless,  timorous,  and  desponding, 
hung  upon  him  like  an  incubus,  and  paralyzed  all  his 
exertions.  In  regard  to  this  House  of  Assembly  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  243 

Governor  might  have  said,  "Mine  enemies  are  those  of  my 
household." 

From  the  police  of  the  city  of  New  Orleans  no  more  hopes 
could  be  derived  than  from  the  majority  of  the  Legislature 
of  the  State;  and  some  of  its  inhabitants  were  carrying  on 
a  treacherous  intercourse  with  the  enemy.  The  writer 
would  not  have  so  confidently  stated  the  facts  contained  in 
this  chapter  unless  he  had  in  his  possession  indubitable 
evidence  of  their  accuracy.  From  the  mass  of  testimony, 
the  following  is  selected  from  the  correspondence  between 
Governor  Claiborne  and  General  Jackson.  In  one  letter  the 
Governor  says : 

"On  a  late  occasion  I  had  the  mortification  to  acknowl- 
edge my  inability  to  meet  a  requisition  from  General 
Flournoy,  the  corps  of  this  city  having  for  the  most  part 
resisted  my  orders,  being  encouraged  in  their  disobedience 
by  the  Legislature  of  the  State,  then  in  session,  one  branch 
of  which,  the  Senate,  having  declared  the  requisition  illegal 
and  oppressive,  and  the  House  of  Representatives  having 
rejected  a  proposition  to  approve  the  measure.  How  far  I 
shall  be  supported  in  my  late  orders  remains  yet  to  be 
proved.  I  have  reason  to  calculate  upon  the  patriotism  of 
the  interior  and  western  counties.  I  know,  also,  that  there 
are  many  faithful  citizens  in  New  Orleans;  but  there  are 
others,  in  whose  attachment  to  the  United  States  I  ought 
not  to  confide.  Upon  the  whole,  sir,  I  cannot  disguise  the 
fact  that  if  Louisiana  should  be  attacked,  we  must  princi- 
pally depend  for  security  upon  the  prompt  movements  of 
the  regular  force  under  your  command  and  the  militia  of  the 
Western  States  and  Territories.  In  this  movement  we  are 
in  a  very  unprepared  and  defenseless  condition;  several 
important  points  of  defense  remain  unoccupied,  and,  in  case 
of  a  sudden  attack,  this  capital  would,  I  fear,  fall  an  easy 
sacrifice." 

In  another  letter  he  says : 

"I  was  on  the  point  of  taking  on  myself  the  prohibition 
of  the  trade  with  Pensacola ;  I  had  prepared  a  proclamation 


244  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

to  that  effect,  and  would  have  issued  it  the  very  day  I  heard 
of  your  interposition.  Enemies  to  the  country  may  blame 
you  for  your  prompt  and  energetic  measures,  but  in  the 
person  of  every  patriot  you  will  find  a  supporter.  I  am  very 
confident  of  the  very  lax  police  of  this  city,  and,  indeed, 
throughout  the  State,  with  respect  to  the  visits  of  strangers. 
I  think,  with  you,  that  our  country  is  filled  with  spies  and 
traitors.  I  have  written  pressingly  on  the  subject  to  the 
city  authorities  and  parish  judges;  I  hope  some  efficient 
regulations  will  speedily  be  adopted  by  the  first,  and  more 
vigilance  exerted  for  the  future  by  the  latter." 

I  have  carefully  and  with  some  labor  and  research  col- 
lected the  facts  in  this  article,  with  a  view  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  giving  to  an  interested  public,  whether  now  or  in  the 
remote  future,  the  part  played  by  Tennessee  at  the  most 
critical  period  in  American  history. 

From  English  history  I  have  collected  the  facts,  showing 
that  the  most  thoroughly  equipped  land  and  naval  force  that 
England  could  command  was  approaching  the  Delta  when 
Jackson  reached  New  Orleans  —  a  land  and  naval  force  that 
had  taken  part  in  all  England's  wars  of  recent  date,  includ- 
ing Nelson's  great  victory  over  the  French  in  the  battle  of 
the  Nile  and  at  Trafalgar,  and  including  the  then  recent 
campaigns  of  Wellington  —  and  also  the  flower  of  the  army 
that  had  but  recently  captured  Washington  and  beaten  our 
armies  in  all  the  battles  of  the  North  from  Detroit  to 
Bladensburg. 

And  then  I  have  shown  from  the  most  reliable  and 
authentic  sources  that  when  Jackson  reached  New  Orleans 
on  horseback,  he  had  a  force  hardly  sufficient  to  police  the 
city,  with  a  large  part  of  the  city  disloyal,  the  Legislature 
timid  and  unwilling  to  aid  the  loyal  Governor  in  his  prepara- 
tion to  defend  the  city,  a  police  not  to  be  trusted,  and  even 
judges  that  were  jealous  and  standing  on  their  technical 
rights,  while  the  British  army  approached  the  city  to  take 
away  all  rights. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  245 

With  these  facts  staring  him  in  the  face,  what  had  General 
Jackson  to  look  to?  He  had  but  one  resource.  He  had 
5,300  Tennesseans  on  the  way  to  New  Orleans.  Two 
thousand  eight  hundred  of  them  under  General  Coffee  had 
made  a  forced  march  across  the  wilderness,  a  distance  of 
450  miles,  and  reached  Mobile  a  few  days  before,  and  had 
gone  immediately  to  Pensacola,  had  captured  the  fortifica- 
tions, and  had  driven  the  British  out  of  the  bay,  and  were 
now  following  General  Jackson,  who  had  gone  ahead  to 
New  Orleans. 

The  other  2,500  had  built  boats  on  the  Cumberland,  and 
by  the  almost  mysterious  blessing  of  heaven  there  came  a 
great  flood  early  in  November,  and  these  2,500  men  under 
General  Carroll  were  floating  down  the  Mississippi  River 
when  Jackson  reached  New  Orleans. 

I  have  said  the  great  victory  over  the  British  at  New 
Orleans  was  the  turning  point  in  the  most  critical  part  of 
American  history.  Qualifying  that,  I  wish  to  say  that  the 
Creek  campaign,  the  victory  at  Mobile  Bay,  and  the  victory 
at  Pensacola,  made  the  victory  at  New  Orleans  possible  by 
Tennessee  soldiers,  and  the  Creek  campaign  had  enabled  our 
commissioners  at  Ghent  to  get  terms  which  they  could  afford 
to  accept.  The  battle  of  New  Orleans  came  at  a  time  when 
the  citizen  soldier  quality  was  at  the  greatest  discount. 

All  New  England  was  clamoring  for  peace  on  any  terms. 
Victory  after  victory  over  our  army  had  greatly  discouraged 
our  own  Government ;  so  much  so,  that  with  full  knowledge 
of  the  purpose  of  England  to  concentrate  her  forces  on  the 
South,  not  a  soldier  could  be  sent  to  Jackson. 

It  was  at  a  time,  too,  when  the  British  press  and  people 
were  heaping  ridicule  upon  us  as  a  nation  of  cowards.  Sev- 
eral of  these  offensive  diatribes  I  published  in  a  former 
chapter. 

The  battle  of  New  Orleans  put  a  new  face  on  the  fighting 
quality  of  citizen  soldiers;  it  made  volunteer  service  the 


246  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

pride  of  the  American  people ;  it  made  a  glorious  ending  of 
the  War  of  1812,  instead  of  a  war  with  nothing  but  disaster. 

It  was  a  daring  and  courageous  running  up  of  the  Ameri- 
can flag,  with  a  notice  that  we  are  able  to  defend  the  republic 
and  that  our  flag  must  be  respected.  This  great  victory 
over  the  British,  one  of  three  great  disasters  that  England 
admits  as  coming  to  her  arms,  I  am  going  to  show  is  a 
Tennessee  victory,  and  that  Tennessee  skill  and  courage 
saved  the  honor  of  the  nation.  This  in  no  sense  is  intended 
to  reflect  upon  troops  of  other  States,  if  they  had  been  there. 

England  always  believed  the  final  overthrow  of  her  arms 
and  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  was  due  to  treachery  at 
home.  And  for  many  years  before  the  War  of  1812  the 
Government  was  bullying  and  the  press  was  blackguarding 
the  United  States. 

Up  to  the  close  of  the  war,  England  had  hundreds  of  our 
soldiers  in  prison— Englishmen  who  had  been  naturalized — 
threatening  to  send  them  back  to  England  to  be  tried  and 
hanged  for  treason.  This  was  what  we  were  fighting  about 
—  the  right  to  search  our  ships  and  seize  our  soldiers  who 
had  once  been  Englishmen.  On  this  point  nothing  was 
yielded  in  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  By  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  Jackson  put  it  in  the  treaty  in  a  more  enduring 
form  than  if  it  had  been  written. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  247 


CHAPTER  XX. 

JACKSON  REACHES  NEW  ORLEANS CARROLL  AND  COFFEE 

COMING  WITH  FIVE  THOUSAND  THREE  HUNDRED  TEN- 
NESSEANS  —  JACKSON'S    PRESENCE   IN    NEW   ORLEANS 

INSPIRES   CONFIDENCE HOW   HE   DEALT   WITH   THE 

DELAYED  ELEMENTS MARTIAL  LAW. 

WHEN  General  Jackson  arrived  at  New  Orleans, 
December  2,  1814,  riding  horseback  from 
Mobile,  he  was  in  feeble  health.  He  had 
never  seen  a  well  day  from  the  time  he  left  his  surgeons, 
in  September,  1813,  getting  out  of  bed  to  take  command 
of  the  army.  The  wounds  he  had  received  in  the  fight 
with  the  Bentons  were  most  serious — so  serious  that 
throughout  the  Creek  campaign,  the  Mobile  and  Pensacola 
campaigns,  and  down  to  the  time  he  reached  New  Orleans, 
his  arm  was  kept  in  a  sling.  His  exposure  with  these 
wounds  in  the  winter  campaign,  and  the  lack  of  whole- 
some food  during  "the  war  in  the  wilderness  against  the 
Indians,  had  brought  on  a  disease,  chronic  diarrhea,  from 
which  he  never  recovered. 

The  public  sentiment,  the  feelings  of  loyalty  or  disloyalty 
of  the  people  at  New  Orleans  at  the  time  Jackson  reached 
there  is  sharply  in  issue  by  his  biographers.  Mr.  Parton 
denies  the  disloyalty  of  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans,  and 
says  they  were  misrepresented  by  Governor  Claiborne,  and 
that  the  disaffection  of  the  Legislature  grew  out  of  an  old 
feud  between  the  Governor  and  the  Legislature  because  the 
Governor  some  years  before  had  opposed  Burr  in  his  cele- 
brated expedition. 

This  is  an  important  matter,  and,  whether  Parton  in- 


248  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

tended  it  as  one  of  his  many  thrusts  at  Jackson,  it  is  cer- 
tain that,  if  true,  it  weakens  the  defense  made  by  Jackson 
and  his  friends  for  declaring  martial  law,  and  for  the 
arrest  and  imprisonment  of  Hall,  and  for  his  having  Gov- 
ernor Claiborne  to  keep  a  watch  on  the  Legislature  to  see 
that  it  did  not  surrender  the  city. 

In  the  last  preceding  chapter  I  gave  a  lengthy  extract 
from  one  of  the  biographies  of  General  Jackson,  that  of 
Mr.  Waldo.  Mr.  Waldo  was  a  man  of  high  character,  and 
seemingly  a  careful  and  painstaking  writer.  His  showing 
of  the  condition  of  New  Orleans  when  General  Jackson 
got  there  is  full  and  complete,  giving  not  only  the  facts 
as  he  collected  them,  but  publishing  a  number  of  Governor 
Claiborne's  letters  to  General  Jackson,  showing  the  alarm- 
ing condition  of  affairs  as  to  loyalty  on  the  approach  of 
an  enemy.  Mr.  Waldo  wrote  in  1817,  only  two  years 
after  the  incident  of  which  he  writes. 

Eaton  wrote  a  book;  Reid  commenced  it,  and  Eaton 
finished  it  in  1818. 

Eaton's  "Life  of  Jackson"  shows  the  necessity  for  mar- 
tial law.  Parton  claims  there  was  no  need  of  it.  The  ar- 
guments for  and  against  are  too  lengthy  for  the  space 
allotted. 

That  the  Legislature,  the  police  force,  and  the  foreign 
element  were  dangerous,  and  excited  in  the  mind  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson  the  deepest  apprehension  and  justified  him  in 
taking  extreme  measures,  was  fully  shown  by  subsequent 
events — not  only  by  the  press  and  by  the  judge  on  the 
bench,  but  by  the  Legislature.  When  Jackson  returned  to 
the  city  after  his  great  victory,  and  after  driving  the  British 
down  to  the  coast,  the  Legislature  passed  resolutions  com- 
mending the  officers  and  soldiers — the  officers  by  name — 
who  had  done  the  fighting,  without  mentioning  the  name 
of  the  general  in  command.  They  wanted  it  -  understood 
that  they  intended  to  snub  General  Jackson. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  249 

The  question  of  martial  law  will  again  come  under  re- 
view in  connection  with  the  arrest  of  Captain  Tonaillier, 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  the  imprisonment  of  Hall. 

On  entering  New  Orleans,  he  seemed  to  be  possessed  of 
almost  superhuman  wisdom,  and  with  an  energy  made 
doubly  mysterious  by  his  extreme  feebleness.  The  greatest 
mystery  in  Jackson's  character  was  his  faith,  but  never 
was  it  so  signally  shown  as  at  New  Orleans.  Mr.  Waldo 
is  right  when  he  says  philosophers  and  stoics  need  not 
go  to  speculating  about  the  effect  of  a  great  man's  pres- 
ence on  the  people.  This  was  most  marked  in  the  case 
of  General  Jackson  on  reaching  the  city.  The  first  thing 
he  did  was  to  accept  an  invitation  to  dinner  from  his  old 
friend,  Mr.  Livingstone,  as  shown  in  a  former  chapter, 
which  caused  Mrs.  Livingstone  to  exclaim  to  a  number  of 
young  Creole  ladies  who  were  with  her  that  day,  "What 
on  earth  shall  we  do  with  tftis  backwoods  general,"  but 
after  a  dinner  and  two  hours'  talk  Mrs.  Livingstone  says 
they  all  decided  he  was  the  most  charming  gentleman  they 
had  ever  met. 

The  dining  over,  General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Livingstone, 
whom  he  appointed  one  of  his  aides,  and  such  engineers 
as  could  be  found  in  the  city,  mounted  their  horses,  all  in 
readiness,  for  an  inspection  of  localities.  General  Jackson 
readily  decided  that  the  British  gunboats  must  not  be 
allowed  to  pass  Ft.  Phillips,  an  old  Spanish  fort  down  the 
river  that  had  been  well  selected  for  defense  against  an 
enemy  coming  into  and  ascending  the  river.  The  man  se- 
lected for  the  defense  of  this  fort  was  Maj.  W.  H.  Overton. 
The  old  fort  was  rapidly  put  in  condition  for  storing  ammu- 
nition and  doing  effective  work  when  the  enemy  undertook 
to  pass. 

General  Jackson's  resources,  expedience  and  foresight  in 
preparing  to  meet  great  emergencies,  including  the  capacity 
for  knowing  when  they  were  coming,  were  never  more 


250  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

strikingly  exemplified  than  in  supplying  the  two  old  dilapi- 
dated Spanish  forts  with  men  and  guns  at  Mobile  Bay  and 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 

From  the  day  Jackson  arrived  until  the  great  battle  of 
January  8th,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  general  in  any  country, 
or  in  any  age,  in  the  same  time  ever  did  the  same  amount 
of  intelligent  and  successful  work  in  preparing  to  fight  a 
great  battle.  It  is  certain  that  history  furnishes  no  in- 
stance of  such  a  campaign  with  such  success,  accomplished 
with  such  resources  and  such  disparity  in  numbers. 

The  man  who  had  come  to  save  New  Orleans  from  the 
rapacity  and  cruelty  which  had  followed  the  trail  of  the 
army  on  the  Canadian  line,  or  sacrifice  his  own  life  with 
the  life  of  every  man  who  would  stand  by  him  to  the  last 
moment,  proceeded  at  once  with  an  intelligence,  a  fore- 
sight, and  a  vigilance  perhaps  never  found  in  any  other 
general  in  preparing  for  a  great  battle.  He  exhausted 
all  available  resources  in  getting  ready  with  a  small  force 
of  militia,  poorly  equipped,  with  no  record  behind  them 
except  as  Indian  fighters  and  squirrel  hunters,  to  fight  a 
great  army  of  the  most  renowned  soldiers  in  the  world. 
The  preparation  to  fight  this  battle,  coupled  with  his  deliber- 
ately formed  purpose  as  to  what  he  would  finally  do  in  a 
certain  event,  as  truly  shows  his  character,  perhaps,  as  any- 
thing in  his  whole  life.  While  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
sacrifice  himself  and  his  army  or  drive  the  British  back  to 
sea,  and  believing  that  this  terrible  ordeal  might  come,  he 
determined  by  herculean  effort  he  would  give  his  soldiers 
the  benefit  of  all  the  means  of  defense  which  skill  and  labor 
could  provide.  His  genius  in  war  enabled  him  to  deter- 
mine in  what  way  the  British  army  would  approach  the 
city,  and  what  special  moves  would  be  made  to  break  the 
center  or  flank  him.  Two  things  he  decided  on:  First, 
that  every  available  man,  citizen,  or  soldier,  who  did  not 
have  a  gun  or  could  not  be  furnished  with  one,  should  be 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  251 

put  to  work  in  strengthening  the  lines  of  defense;  second, 
that  the  great  battle  should  not  be  fought  until  he  got 
ready. 

The  reader  will  carefully  note  the  evidence,  which  goes 
to  prove  his  purpose,  that  if  the  British  army  reached  the 
city,  it  should  do  it  over  his  dead  body,  he  and  his  brave 
soldiers  sleeping  on  the  same  bloody  field. 

The  victories  in  the  North  in  1813  and  1814  over  our 
armies  had  brought  dishonor  on  a  country  that  he  loved 
more  than  his  life ;  the  vandalism  in  burning  all  our  public 
buildings  at  Washington,  and  public  records;  the  general 
massacre  at  Frenchtown ;  the  preparation  they  were  making 
to  send  hundreds  of  prisoners  which  they  had  taken — En- 
glishmen found  in  our  army — back  to  England  to  be  tried 
for  treason  and  hung,  because  England  in  her  self-import- 
ance said,  "Once  an  Englishman,  always  an  Englishman." 
But  above  all,  and  more  than  all,  Jackson  did  not  intend 
to  survive  the  occupation  of  the  Southland  by  a  people 
whom  he  intensely  hated  as  a  nation  of  land  pirates,  whose 
limit  to  conquest  and  subjugation  of  other  countries  and 
other  people  was  determined  alone  by  the  question  of  big 
guns  and  great  ships.  Jackson  believed  in  the  freedom  of 
all  men,  and  hated  England  for  its  subjugation  of  helpless 
people. 

Theie  were  other  reasons  of  a  personal  nature  which 
operated  on  General  Jackson  through  his  whole  life.  The 
great,  the  oft-told  story  of  Ireland's  wrongs  at  the  hands 
of  the  British  nation,  was  an  open  book  to  him.  His 
grandfather  died  at  the  massacre  of  Carrickfergus.  His 
father  and  mother  fled  from  Ireland  on  account  of  British 
oppression.  His  two  brothers,  though  mere  boys,  had 
given  up  their  lives  in  defense  of  the  country  to  which  they 
had  fled,  and  to  which  the  British  had  pursued  them.  One 
of  them  by  personal  indignities  by  British  officers,  while  he 
himself  a  thirteen-year-old  boy,  barely  escaped  with  his 


252  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

life.  Then  he  had  seen  his  mother  driven  into  the  woods, 
where  she  was  hiding  from  Lord  Rawdon  and  Colonel 
Tarleton,  the  illustrious  specimens  of  British  nobility  in 
command  of  armies,  and  finally  dying  in  a  hospital. 
Whether  this  personal  matter  had  anything  to  do  with  his 
feelings  or  not,  it  certainly  never  carried  him  into  anything 
beyond  the  duties  and  obligations  of  a  soldier. 

About  December  14  the  news  came  to  General  Jackson 
that  the  British  gunboats  had  captured  Commodore  Pat- 
terson's entire  fleet  of  six  gunboats,  and  had  passed  into 
Lake  Borgne,  and  were  within  a  few  miles  of  the  city. 
On  this  news  reaching  the  city,  the  most  intense  excite- 
ment and  alarm  were  produced.  Never  was  the  supreme 
magnetic  power  of  General  Jackson  more  strikingly  shown 
than  at  this  time.  To  all  he  said,  "Be  not  alarmed ;  I  have 
soldiers  you  have  not  yet  seen ;  we  will  save  this  city  from 
the  despoiler;  we  will  drive  him  back  to  the  sea." 

While  General  Jackson  had  only  been  in  the  city  then 
twelve  days,  his  very  presence  was  more  than  confidence 
and  his  words  more  than  inspiring.  Of  all  the  soldiers 
who  have  reached  distinction,  General  Jackson  was  the 
greatest  pen  soldier  —  no  general  ever  wrote  as  much  — 
and  thereby  kept  himself  so  much  in  touch  with  his  army 
and  the  people  he  was  defending.  At  this  critical  moment 
he  issued  the  following  proclamation : 

"To  the  Citizens  of  New  Orleans: —  The  Major  General 
commanding  has,  with  astonishment  and  regret,  learned 
that  great  consternation  and  alarm  pervade  your  city.  It 
is  true  the  enemy  is  on  our  coast  and  threatens  an  invasion 
of  our  territory,  but  it  is  equally  true,  with  union,  energy, 
and  the  approbation  of  heaven,  we  will  beat  him  at  every 
point  his  temerity  may  induce  him  to  set  foot  upon  our 
soil.  The  General,  with  still  greater  astonishment,  has 
heard  that  British  emissaries  have  been  permitted  to  propa- 
gate seditious  reports  among  you;  that  the  threatened  in- 
vasion is  with  a  view  of  restoring  the  country  to  Spain, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  253 

from  a  supposition  that  some  would  be  willing  to  return  to 
your  ancient  Government.  Believe  not  such  incredible 
tales — your  Government  is  at  peace  with  Spain.  It  is  the 
vital  enemy  of  your  country,  the  common  enemy  of  man- 
kind, the  highway  robber  of  the  world  that  threatens  you, 
and  has  sent  his  hirelings  among  you  with  false  report  to 
put  you  off  your  guard,  that  you  may  fall  an  easy  prey  to 
him;  then  look  to  your  liberties,  your  property,  the  chastity 
of  your  wives  and  daughters.  Take  a  retrospect  of  the 
British  army  at  Hampton  and  other  places,  where  it  has 
entered  our  country,  and  every  bosom  which  glows  with 
patriotism  and  virtue  will  be  inspired  with  indignation,  and 
pant  for  the  arrival  of  the  hour  when  we  shall  meet  and 
revenge  those  outrages  against  the  laws  of  civilization  and 
humanity. 

"The  General  calls  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  £ity  to 
trace  this  unfounded  report  to  its  source,  and  bring  the  pro- 
pagator to  condign  punishment.  The  rules  and  articles  of 
war  annex  a  punishment  of  death  to  any  person  holding 
secret  correspondence  with  the  enemy,  creating  false 
alarms,  or  supplying  him  with  provisions;  and  the  General 
announces  his  unalterable  determination  rigidly  to  execute 
the  martial  law  in  all  cases  which  may  come  within  his 
province. 

"The  safety  of  the  district  entrusted  to  the  protection  of 
the  General  must  and  will  be  maintained  with  the  best 
blood  of  the  country,  and  he  is  confident  that  all  good  citi- 
zens will  be  found  at  their  posts  with  their  arms  in  their 
hands,  determined  to  dispute  every  inch  of  ground  with  the 
enemy;  that  unanimity  will  pervade  the  country  generally; 
but  should  the  General  be  disappointed  in  this  expectation, 
he  will  separate  our  enemies  from  our  friends — those  who 
are  not  for  us  are  against  us,  and  will  be  dealt  with  ac- 
cordingly." 

At  the  time  General  Jackson  issued  this  proclamation  to 
the  citizens  of  New  Orleans  there  was  the  wildest  excite- 
ment in  the  city,  and  great  danger,  apparently,  of  serious 
trouble.  And  it  was  at  this  time  that  the  question  arose 
of  martial  law. 


254  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Commodore  Patterson  suggested  to  Governor  Claiborne 
that  the  Legislature  should  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas  cor- 
pus. The  Legislature  refused  to  comply  with  the  Gov- 
ernor's recommendation,  but,  instead,  proceeded  to  pass 
some  laws  about  salaries,  which  they  foolishly  believed 
would  be  a  remedy  for  the  ills  in  the  city.  Thereupon 
General  Jackson  determined  to  take  all  power  into  his  own 
hands,  and  the  very  day  that  he  issued  the  proclamation 
he  declared  martial  law.  In  conversing  with  Major  Eaton 
years  afterward  he  said : 

"I  very  well  knew  the  extent  of  my  powers,  and  that  it 
was  far  short  of  that  which  necessity  and  my  situation  re- 
quired. I  determined,  therefore,  to  venture  boldly  forth 
and  pursue  a  course  correspondent  to  the  difficulties  that 
pressed  upon  me.  I  had  an  anxious  solicitude  to  wipe  off 
the  stigma  cast  upon  my  country  by  the  destruction  of  the 
Capitol.  If  New  Orleans  were  taken,  I  well  knew  that 
new  difficulties  would  arise  and  every  effort  be  made  to  re- 
tain it;  and  that  if  regained,  blood  and  treasure  would  be 
the  sacrifice.  My  determination,  therefore,  was  formed — 
not  to  halt  at  trifles,  but  to  lose  the  city  only  at  the  boldest 
sacrifice,  and  to  omit  nothing  that  could  assure  success. 
I  was  well  aware  that  calculating  politicians,  ignorant  of 
the  difficulties  that  surrounded  me,  would  condemn  my 
course;  but  this  was  not  material.  What  became  of  me 
was  of  no  consequence.  If  disaster  did  come,  I  expected 
not  to  survive  it;  but  if  a  successful  defense  could  be  made. 
I  felt  assured  that  my  country,  in  the  objects  attained, 
would  lose  sight  of  and  forget  the  means  that  had  been 
employed." 

Martial  law  was  declared  and  the  whole  city  turned  into 
a  camp.  General  Jackson  put  into  the  army  every  man 
that  could  be  raised,  even  criminals  out  of  jail,  and  it  was 
about  this  time  that  Lafitte  appeared  with  two  com- 
panies from  Barrataria,  and  was  accepted  by  General  Jack- 
son, at  first  reluctantly,  but,  finally,  under  advice  of  Liv- 
ingstone. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  255 

While  General  Jackson  was  trying  to  pacify  the  people 
by  a  proclamation  and  using  every  effort  to  organize  some 
forces  in  the  city,  his  main  dependence,  Coffee  and  Carroll, 
had  not  reached  him.  Notwithstanding  the  courage  dis- 
played in  getting  ready  to  fight  with  what  force  he  had, 
even  if  it  became  necessary  before  Coffee  and  Carroll  got 
there,  it  is  perfectly  manifest  that  his  dependence  was  upon 
the  Tennessee  soldiers  all  the  way  through. 

As  on  all  other  occasions,  that  day  and  that  night  he  was 
using  his  pen  writing  a  letter  back  to  the  commander  at 
Fort  Bowyer  to  hold  his  position,  and  to  the  officers  at 
Fort  Phillips,  the  point  he  had  selected  as  the  place  of  de- 
fense in  keeping  the  British  back  in  their  attempt  to  flank 
him  in  coming  up  the  river.  He  wrote,  acquainting  that 
officer  with  the  arrival  of  the  enemy,  and  ordering  him  to 
hold  the  fort  while  a  man  remained  alive  to  point  a  gun. 
To  General  Carroll,  who  was  coming  down  the  river  with 
2,500  men,  he  sent  a  steamboat  to  hurry  him,  and  wrote  to 
General  Carroll  a  short  note,  saying: 

"I  am  resolved,  feeble  as  my  force  is,  to  assail  the  enemy 
on  his  landing,  and  perish  sooner  than  he  shall  reach  the 
city;"  and  to  General  Coffee,  who  was  on  his  way  with  his 
men,  he  wrote  and  sent  by  special  messenger:  "You  must 
not  sleep  until  you  reach  me,  or  arrive  within  striking  dis- 
tance. Your  accustomed  activity  is  looked  for.  Innum- 
erable defiles  present  themselves  where  your  services  will 
be  all  important.  An  opportunity  is  at  hand  to  reap  for 
yourself  and  your  men  the  approbation  of  your  country." 

When  the  messenger  reached  Coffee  he  was  150  miles 
from  New  Orleans.  Getting  the  message  and  learning  the 
facts,  Coffee  selected  1,200  of  his  best  men — that  is,  the 
strongest  and  those  who  had  horses  that  could  stand  it — 
and  traveled  150  miles  in  two  days.  The  first  day  he' 
traveled  70  miles,  and  the  next  day  he  traveled  80  miles. 
This,  perhaps,  has  no  parallel  in  history. 


256  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

LIEUTENANT  JONES  WITH  A  SMALL  FORCE  FIGHTS  SO  GAL- 
LANTLY THAT  THOUGH  DEFEATED  THE  DEFENSE  WILL 

LIVE  IN  HISTORY COFFEE  AND  CARROLL  SENT  FOR 

"DON'T  STOP  TILL  YOU  REACH  ME/'  SAID  JACKSON  — 
COFFEE  MAKES  A  PHENOMENAL  MARCH  OF  ONE  HUN- 
DRED AND  FIFTY  MILES  IN  TWO  DAYS MAJ.  H.  H. 

OVERTON  GIVEN  COMMAND  OF  FORT  PHILLIPS UNPAR- 
ALLELED NIGHT  BATTLE  OF  DECEMBER  230. 

THE  loss  of  the  five  gunboats  on  the  I4th  of  Decem- 
ber must  not  be  passed  over  without  giving  the 
facts.     We  have  now  reached  the  point  where  every 
incident,  as  well  as  every  day,  is  a  great  big  chapter.     The 
battle  in  which  Lieutenant  Jones  lost  his  entire  navy — 
five  little  boats,  all  captured  in  his  effort  to  keep  the  enemy's 
gunboats  out  of  Lake  Borgne — is  one  of  the  incidents  in 
this  great  conflict  which  no  American  historian  would  pass 
by  with  a  mere  notice  of  the  result. 

It  was  one  of  many  incidents,  crowding  one  on  another, 
which  shows  how  Jackson  had  inspired  every  man  in  his 
army  with  the  spirit  of  resistance.  Lieutenant  Jones,  with 
five  little  gunboats  manned  with  182  men  with  23  guns, 
met  the  British  fleet  of  43  boats,  manned  with  1,200  men 
and  43  guns.  Eaton's  "Life  of  Jackson"  gives  the  follow- 
ing account  of  this  sanguinary  sea  fight : 

"The  enemy,  coming  up  with  the  two  gunboats  in  ad- 
vance of  the  line,  and  relying  on  their  numbers  and  sup- 
posed superior  skill,  determined  to  attack.  For  this  pur- 
pose several  of  their  barges  bore  down  on  No.  156,  com- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  257 

manded  by  Lieutenant  Jones,  but  failed  in  the  attempt; 
they  were  repulsed  with  an  immense  destruction,  both  in 
their  officers  and  crew,  and  two  of  their  boats  sunk;  one 
of  them  with  180  men  went  down,  immediately  under  the 
stern  of  No.  156.  Again  rallying  with  a  stronger  force 
than  before,  another  desperate  assault  was  made  to  board 
and  carry,  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  which  was  again  re- 
pelled with  considerable  loss.  The  contest  was  now  bravely 
waged  and  spiritedly  resisted.  Lieutenant  Jones,  unable 
to  keep  on  the  deck  from  a  severe  wound  he  had  received, 
retired,  leaving  the  command  with  George  Parker,  who 
no  less  valiantly  defended  his  flag  until,  severely  wounded, 
he  was  forced  to  leave  his  post.  No  longer  able  to  main- 
tain the  conflict,  and  overpowered  by  superior  numbers, 
they  yielded  the  victory,  after  a  contest  of  forty  minutes, 
in  which  everything  was  done  that  gallantry  could  do,  and 
nothing  unperformed  that  duty  required.  The  com- 
mandant was  ably  supported  by  Lieutenants  Spedder  and 
McEver,  of  Nos.  162  and  123,  and  by  Sailing  Masters  Ulrick 
and  Deferris,  of  Nos.  163  and  5.  The  two  former  were 
wounded — McEver  severely  in  both  arms,  one  so  badly  as 
to  be  compelled  to  have  it  amputated.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  take  up  the  time  of  the  reader  in  commendation  of  this 
Spartan  band;  their  bravery  and  good  conduct  will  long 
be  remembered  and  admired,  and  excite  emotions  much 
stronger  than  language  can  paint.  The  great  disparity  of 
force  between  the  combatants  added  to  the  advantages  the 
enemy  derived  from  the  peculiar  construction  of  their 
boats,  which  gave  them  an  opportunity  to  take  any  posi- 
tion that  circumstances  had  directed,  while  the  others  lay 
wholly  unmanageable,  presents  a  curious  and  strange  re- 
sult; that,  while  the  American  loss  was  but  six  killed  and 
thirty-five  wounded,  that  of  their  assailants  was  riot  less 
than  300.  The  British  have  never  afforded  us  any  light 
upon  the  subject;  but  from  every  information  and  from  all 
the  attendant  circumstances  of  the  battle,  it  was  even  be- 
lieved to  have  exceeded  this  number,  of  which  a  large  pro- 
portion was  officers. 

"Early  on  the  I5th  expresses  were  sent  off,  up  the  coast, 


258  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

in  quest  of  General  Coffee,  to  endeavor  to  procure  informa- 
tion of  the  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  divisions,  which  it 
was  hoped  were  not  far  distant,  and  to  urge  their  speedy 
approach.  In  his  communication  to  Coffee  the  General 
observes,  'You  must  not  sleep  until  you  arrive  within  strik- 
ing distance.  Your  accustomed  activity  is  looked  for.  In- 
numerable denies  present  themselves,  where  your  riflemen 
will  be  all  important.  An  opportunity  is  at  hand  to  reap 
for  yourselves  and  your  brigade  the  approbation  of  your 
country.' 

"In  obedience  to  the  order  he  had  received  at  Mobile, 
to  occupy  some  central  position,  where  his  horses  might  be 
subsisted,  and  whence  he  might  act  as  circumstances  might 
require,  Coffee  had  proceeded  as  far  as  Sandy  Creek,  a 
small  distance  above  Baton  Rouge,  where  he  had  halted. 
His  brigade,  on  its  march,  had  been  greatly  exposed  and 
had  encountered  many  hardships.  The  cold  season  had  set 
in,  and  for  twenty  days  it  had  rained  incessantly.  The 
waters  were  raised  to  uncommon  heights,  and  every  creek 
and  bayou  had  to  be  bridged  or  swum.  Added  to  this, 
their  march  was  through  a  poor  country,  but  thinly  settled, 
where  little  subsistence  was  to  be  had,  and  that  procured 
with  much  difficulty.  He  had  been  at  this  place  eight  or 
ten  days,  when,  late  on  the  night  of  the  i/th,  the  express, 
dispatched  from  headquarters  reached  him.  He  lost  no 
time  in  executing  the  order,  and,  directing  one  of  his  regi- 
ments, which,  for  the  greater  convenience  of  foraging,  lay 
about  six  miles  off,  to  unite  with  him,  he  was  ready  in  the 
morning,  and  marched  the  instant  it  arrived.  In  conse- 
quence of  innumerable  exposures,  there  were  at  this  time 
300  on  the  sick  list. 

"Coffee,  perceiving  that  the  movement  of  his  whole 
force  in  a  body  would  perhaps  occasion  delays  ruinous  to 
the  main  object  in  view,  ordered  all  who  were  well  mounted 
and  able  to  proceed  to  advance  with  him,  while  the  rest 
of  his  brigade,  under  suitable  officers,  were  left  to  follow 
on  as  fast  as  the  weak  and  exhausted  condition  of  their 
horses  would  permit.  His  force,  by  this  arrangement,  was 
reduced  to  800  men,  with  whom  he  moved  with  the  utmost 
industry.  Having  marched  eighty  miles  the  last  day,  he 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  259 

encamped  on  the  night  of  the  iQth  within  fifteen  miles  of 
New  Orleans,  making  in  two  days  a  distance  of  150  miles. 
Continuing  his  advance  early  the  next  morning,  he  halted 
within  four  miles  of  the  city  to  examine  the  state  and  con- 
dition of  his  arms,  and  to  learn,  in  the  event  the  enemy  had 
landed,  the  relative  position  of  the  two  armies. 

"These  brave  men,  without  murmuring,  had  now  tra- 
versed an  extent  of  country  nothing  short  of  800  miles,  and 
under  trials  sufficiently  severe  to  have  appalled  the  most 
resolute  and  determined.  They  had  enrolled  themselves, 
not  as  volunteers  sometimes  do,  to  frolic,  and  by  peaceable 
campaigns  gain  a  name  in  arms;  they  had  done  it  know- 
ing that  an  enemy,  if  not  already  at  hand,  was  certainly 
expected,  with  whom  they  would  have  to  contend,  and 
contend  severely.  Great  reliance  was  had  on  them  by  the 
commanding  general,  and  their  good  conduct  in  the  dif- 
ferent situations  in  which  they  had  acted  with  him  was  a 
proof  of  how  much  they  deserved  it." 

When  the  news  of  this  disaster — the  loss  of  the  five  gun- 
boats— reached  New  Orleans,  it  created  the  wildest  excite- 
ment, indeed,  alarm,  because  to  get  into  Lake  Borgne  was 
to  land  the  army  in  a  few  miles  of  the  city.  But  when 
General  Jackson  rode  into  the  city,  having  been  out  inspect- 
ing his  works,  and  found  the  streets  full  of  women  and 
children,  all  looking  into  the  face  of  the  man  of  iron,  and 
said :  "Don't  be  alarmed ;  they  will  never  enter  your  city. 
If  they  do,  it  will  be  over  my  dead  body,"  the  words  went 
flying  over  the  city  and  did  much  to  allay  the  excitement. 

Already  a  steamboat  had  been  sent  up  the  river  to  dis- 
cover the  prospect  of  Carroll  reaching  the  city,  but  no  re- 
port had  been  made.  A  messenger  was  sent,  who  reached 
Coffee  on  the  i/th  above  Baton  Rouge,  and  delivered  Gen- 
eral Jackson's  message;  so  that  early  on  the  morning  of  the 
2Oth  General  Coffee  reported  to  General  Jackson  with  800 
men.  The  balance  came  up  in  two  or  three  days.  This 
to  Jackson  was  joy  enough  for  one  day.  But  his  deepest 
feeling  was  found  in  the  utterance,  "O,  that  Carroll  would 


260  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

come!"  Mark  the  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  army 
that  fought  the  battle  of  New  Oreleans — the  Tennessee 
army. 

When  Jackson  found,  in  July,  that  as  Major  General  no 
army  was  going  to  be  given  him,  that  every  soldier  the 
Government  had  or  could  enlist  was  needed  to  save  the 
North  from  England's  victorious  armies,  he  at  once  took 
steps  for  raising  an  army  of  Tennesseans.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  he  was  then  closing  up  the  treaty  with  the 
Creek  Indians  and  had  no  army.  He  had  one  man  in 
Tennessee  on  whom  he  could  rely;  that  was  Governor 
Blount. 

Ever  since  he  refused  to  obey  the  orders — rather  sug- 
gestion— of  Governor  Blount  and  abandon  the  Creek  cam- 
paign for  the  want  of  supplies,  and  wrote  the  letter  which 
changed  Governor  Blount's  mind  and  made  the  campaign 
a  great  success,  Governor  Blount  had  stood  ready  to  obey 
Jackson's  orders  in  all  military  matters.  Fortunately,  at 
this  critical  period  in  the  history  of  the  Southwest — in  fact, 
critical  period  in  the  history  of  the  whole  country — the  peo- 
ple of  Tennessee  had  come  to  believe  General  Jackson  was 
a  champion,  the  like  of  whom  had  not  been  seen,  and  that 
Carroll  and  Coffee  were  his  vice-regents.  Besides,  they 
had  come  to  love  and  listen  to  their  Governor,  who  had  so 
promptly  surrendered  his  own  judgment  and  so  heartily 
indorsed  Jackson's  suggestion  to  press  the  Creek  campaign. 
Hence,  when  Jackson  found  that  he  was  in  charge  of  the 
country  where  the  British  were  going  to  make  their  final 
great  effort,  and  without  an  army,  he  simply  used  these 
men,  Coffee,  Carroll  and  Governor  Blount,  to  raise  him 
an  army  in  Tennessee. 

Coffee  raised  2,800  men,  and  in  the  early  days  of  Octo- 
ber, under  orders,  started  across  the  wilderness  to  reach 
Jackson  at  Mobile.  After  an  arduous  campaign,  and  much 
suffering  in  the  want  of  supplies  for  both  men  and  horses, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  261 

he  reached  Mobile,  fought  the  battle  of  Pensacola,  and 
reached  New  Orleans  on  December  19,  marching  in  all 
more  than  800  miles.  Carroll  had  gone  actively  to  work 
and  raised  2,500  men.  They  assembled  at  Nashville,  and 
in  the  early  days  of  November  he  had  his  boats  built  for 
descending  the  river.  Many  of  both  commands  were  of 
the  best  families  in  the  State.  Carroll  did  not  expect  water 
before  winter,  but  worked  night  and  day  until  the  boats 
were  built.  While  Coffee  had  been  ordered  to  cross  the 
wilderness  and  come  to  Jackson  at  Mobile,  Carroll  had 
been  ordered  to  descend  the  river  to  New  Orleans. 

In  the  early  days  of  November  there  came  a  great  rain, 
lasting  several  days  and  promising  to  make  a  tide.  This 
was  most  uncommon;  indeed,  rarely  ever  known  before. 
There  had  been  little  or  no  expectation  of  getting  off  before 
December,  and  the  volunteers  were,  many  of  them,  at  their 
homes.  But  the  vigilance  of  Carroll,  who  had  now  been 
made  a  major  general,  when  he  found  there  was  a  prospect 
of  a  flood,  brought  together  his  entire  army,  prepared  for 
the  long  voyage  to  New  Orleans,  and  on  November  I3th, 
the  rise  in  the  river  being  sufficient,  the  hurriedly  impro- 
vised flatboats,  carrying  2,500  volunteers,  cut  cable  and 
swung  out  into  the  Cumberland,  leaving  on  the  bank  a  vast 
crowd  of  women  and  children  waiving  their  handkerchiefs 
wet  with  tears. 

From  the  I3th  of  November  to  the  2ist  of  December, 
Carroll,  with  his  Tennesseans,  was  floating,  paddling,  and 
pushing  his  boats.  He  had  a  splendid  body  of  men,  but 
practically  without  arms;  at  least  not  more  than  one-sixth 
of  the  men  were  armed  with  guns  that  could  be  relied  on. 
After  he  struck  the  Ohio  he  overtook  a  boat  loaded  with 
guns,  guns  shipped  by  the  Government  from  Pittsburg, 
but  allowing  the  boatmen  the  privilege  of  trading,  which 
caused  inexcusable  delay.  Carroll  took  charge  of  this 


262  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

boat,  took  the  guns  and  armed  his  men,  and,  moving  with 
all  possible  haste,  he  arrived  at  New,  Orleans  on  the  2ist 
of  December. 

Upon  the  whole  the  facts  in  connection  with  raising  the 
army  to  fight  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  seeming 
miraculous  coincidences  connected  with  the  preparation  to 
fight  it,  can  but  strongly  impress  the  reader  with  what  Gen- 
eral Jackson  often  said,  "Fear  not;  heaven  will  smile  on 
us."  The  incredibly  short  time  in  which  Carroll  and  Cof- 
fee raised  an  army  of  5,300  men,  the  orders  having  been 
given  in  July,  when  Jackson  found  the  Government  was  not 
going  to  give  him  an  army;  the  rapid  march  of  Coffee 
across  the  wilderness,  reaching  in  time  to  drive  the  British 
out  of  Pensacola,  destroy  their  supplies,  and  then  reaching 
New  Orleans  on  the  iQth  of  December,  traveling  one  day 
eighty  miles,  seems  almost  incredible. 

Carroll  raised  in  the  same  time  2,500  men,  finished  his 
boats  near  the  middle  of  November,  just  as  the  unprece- 
dented great  November  flood  came,  and  on  the  way  cap- 
tured a  flatboat  loaded  with  guns,  and  arrived  in  New 
Orelans  on  the  2ist,  only  two  days  before  the  sanguinary 
battle  of  the  23d,  which  undoubtedly  enabled  Jackson  to 
hold  the  British  army  in  check  until  he  got  ready  to  fight, 
is  almost  marvelous. 

It  is  painful  to  record  that  in  making  the  contract  for  the 
shipment  of  two  boat  loads  of  arms  from  Pittsburg  to  New 
Orleans,  the  Government  had  given  the  contract  to  flat- 
boat  captains,  because  they  proposed  to  carry  them  some- 
thing cheaper  than  the  steamboat  captain  proposed.  These 
flatboats  were  trading  boats.  The  second  boat  came  into 
New  Orleans  after  the  battle,  and  Jackson  arrested  the 
captain. 

Jackson  always  said,  and  so  reported  to  the  President, 
*  that  if  he  had  had  arms  he  would  have  captured  the  entire 
British  army  before  they  got  to  the  ships. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  263 

From  December  i4th  until  Coffee  and  Carroll  reached 
him,  Jackson's  condition  was  extremely  critical;  nobody 
knew  it  as  well  as  himself.  Two  parts  of  regiments,  with 
a  few  dragoons  from  Mississippi  Territory  under  Captain 
Hinds,  and  a  few  untrained  Louisiana  militia,  such  as  could 
be  gotten  together  in  New  Orleans,  was  his  entire  force 
in  front  of  the  best  trained  armies  in  the  world.  Jackson 
had,  first,  by  his  commanding  presence  and  confidence  in 
the  success  of  the  right,  to  avert  a  panic,  which  threatened 
to  spread  over  the  entire  city.  In  the  second  place,  he 
was  in  constant  touch  with  his  outposts,  his  pickets  on  the 
lakes  and  on  all  the  roads,  that  he  might  be  notified  of  the 
first  landing  of  troops,  for  being  now  in  Lake  Borgne,  they 
might  land  within  seven  to  nine  miles  of  the  city.  In  the 
third  place,  he  had  his  entire  force,  with  all  available  ma- 
terial, working  on  his  defenses,  which  he  superintended  in 
person.  In  addition,  he  was  constantly  conferring  with 
his  subordinates  and  men  as  to  what  was  meant  by  war, 
and  what  was  expected  of  a  soldier  when  his  country  was 
invaded,  and  especially  invaded  by  such  a  set  of  land 
pirates,  as  he  called  the  British,  whose  colonial  policy  was 
to  conquer  a  country  and  put  an  army  over  the  people,  and 
then  compel  the  people  to  support  the  army  that  was  keeping 
them  in  subjection. 

The  reader  has  already  seen  how  Jackson  imbued  Cap- 
tain Lawrence,  in  command  of  Fort  Bowyer,  with  the  spirit 
of  dying  at  his  post,  so  that  when  the  British  ships  came  in 
sight  he  called  up  his  men,  and  they  all  pledged  -each  other 
that  the  last  man  would  be  there  when  the  fort  was  shot 
away. 

When  he  put  Maj.  W.  H.  Overton  in  command  of  Fort 
Phillips,  the  fort  below  New  Orleans,  to  keep  the  British 
from  ascending  the  river,  the  orders  were  to  stay  on  the 
fort  as  long  as  there  was  one  man  to  point  a  gun,  and  a 
more  gallant  defense  was  never  made  by  man,  not  one  gun- 


264  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

boat  getting  by — they  were  shot  to  pieces  or  turned  back 
as  they  came. 

After  Major  Overton  got  his  orders,  he  ran  a  pole  up 
on  the  fort,  nailed  the  flag  to  it  so  it  would  not  come  down, 
so  there  would  be  no  such  thing  as  surrender,  and  when 
the  fighting  was  all  over  all  not  killed  were  standing  by 
their  guns.  So  with  Lieutenant  Jones,  with  182  men  fight- 
ing 1,200  men.  He  surrendered  only  when  his  five  little 
boats  had  been  shot  to  pieces,  killing  twice  as  many  of  the 
enemy  as  he  had  men.  This  watching  and  working  con- 
tinued from  the  I4th  to  the  23d,  when  an  event  occurred 
which,  I  think,  is  without  a  parallel  in  history. 

The  scene  which  occurred  on  the  night  of  December  23d 
has  been  written  up,  and  written  at,  by  all  Jackson's  bi- 
ographers and  many  others,  but  it  was  a  scene  never  to  be 
put  on  paper.  At  the  close  of  a  long  article  by  Alexander 
Walker,  who  wrote  "Jac^son  and  New  Orleans,"  a  book 
of  200  pages,  after  showing  how  Jackson's  outposts  had 
been  surrounded  and  captured,  and  how  one  of  them, 
Major  Villere,  had  made  his  escape,  introduces  the  opening 
scene  of  the  immortal  23d  as  follows : 

"During  all  the  exciting  events  of  his  campaign  Jackson 
had  barely  the  strength  to  stand  erect  without  support;  his 
body  was  sustained  alone  by  the  spirit  within.  Ordinary 
men  would  have  shrunk  into  feeble  imbeciles  or  useless  in- 
valids under  such  a  pressure.  The  disease  contracted  in 
the  swamps  of  Alabama  still  clung  to  him.  Reduced  to  a 
mere  skeleton,  unable  to  digest  his  food,  and  unrefreshed 
by  sleep,  his  life  seemed  to  be  preserved  by  some  miraculous 
agency.  There,  in  the  parlor  of  his  headquarters,  in  Royal 
Street,  surrounded  by  his  faithful  and  efficient  aides,  he 
worked  day  and  night,  organizing  his  forces,  dispatching 
orders,  receiving  reports,  and  making  all  necessary  ar- 
rangements for  the  defense  of  the  city." 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  265 

Jackson  was  thus  engaged  at  1 130  p.  M.,  on  December 
23,  1814,  when  his  attention  was  drawn  from  certain  docu- 
ments he  was  carefully  reading  by  the  sound  of  horses  gal- 
loping down  the  streets  with  more  rapidity  than  comported 
with  the  order  of  a  city  under  martial  law.  The  sounds 
ceased  at  the  door  of  his  headquarters,  and  the  sentinel  on 
duty  announced  the  arrival  of  three  gentlemen  who  de- 
sired to  see  the  General  immediately,  having  important 
intelligence  to  communicate. 

"Show  them  in,  "  ordered  the  General.  The  visitors 
proved  to  be  Dussau  de  la  Croix,  Maj.  Gabriel  Villere,  and 
Colonel  de  la  Ronde.  They  were  stained  with  mud  and 
nearly  breathless  with  the  rapidity  of  their  ride. 

"What  news  do  you  bring,  gentlemen?"  eagerly  asked 
the  General. 

"Important!  Highly  important!"  responded  Mr.  de  la 
Croix.  "The  British  have  arrived  at  Villere's  plantation, 
nine  miles  below  the  city,  and  are  there  encamped.  Here 
is  Major  Villere,  who  was  captured  by  them,  who  has  es- 
caped, and  will  now  relate  his  story." 

The  Major  accordingly  detailed  in  a  clear  and  perspicu- 
ous manner  the  occurrences  we  have  already  related,  em- 
ploying his  mother  tongue,  the  French  language,  which  de 
la  Croix  translated  to  the  General.  At  the  close  of  Major 
Villere's  narrative,  the  General  drew  up  his  figure,  bowed 
with  disease  and  weakness,  to  its  full  height,  and  with  an 
eye  of  fire  and  an  emphatic  blow  upon  the  table  with  his 
clenched  fist,  exclaimed,  "By  the  eternal,  they  shall  not 
sleep  on  our  soil!"  Then,  courteously  inviting  his  visitors 
to  refresh  themselves,  and  sipping  a  glass  of  wine  in  com- 
pliment to  them,  he  turned  to  his  secretary  and  aides  and 
remarked:  "Gentlemen,  the  British  are  below;  we  must 
fight  them  tonight !  Fight  them  tonight !  By  the  eternal, 
they  shall  not  sleep  on  our  soil!" 

It  was  i  o'clock  in  the  evening  when  General  Jackson 


266  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

said  this.  The  army  he  depended  on,  under  Coffee  and 
Carroll,  was  in  camp  four  miles  up  the  river.  Orders  were 
immediately  issued,  and  in  two  hours  the  army,  including 
the  troops  in  the  city,  was  moving  to  the  scene,  nine  miles 
down  the  river.  Was  there  ever  another  man  that  would 
have  made  this  order?  Jackson  did  not  know  whether 
there  were  5,000  men  or  20,000.  But  they  are  not  going 
to  sleep  on  our  soil,  and  we  will  fight  them  tonight. 

Commodore  Patterson  was  sent  down  the  river  in  com- 
mand of  the  Carolina,  and  his  gun — he  only  had  one — fired 
in  the  night,  was  to  be  the  signal.  Jackson,  with  his  regu- 
lars and  New  Orleans  militia,  was  to  attack  in  front  on  the 
bank  of  the  rivers,  and  Coffee  was  sent  to  the  rear  to  attack 
and  drive  in  the  right  wing.  The  signal  was  given  and 
with  terrible  effect,  mowing  down  the  British,  who  had  not 
waked  up  to  the  situation.  I  make  the  following  extracts 
from  Eaton  about  this  night  battle : 

"Jackson,  convinced  that  an  early  impression  was  essen- 
tial to  success,  had  resolved  to  assail  them  at  the  moment 
of  their  landing,  and  'attack  them  in  their  first  position/ 
We  have,  therefore,  seen  him,  with  a  force  inferior  by  one- 
half  to  that  of  the  enemy,  at  an  unexpected  moment,  break 
into  their  camp,  and  with  his  undisciplined  yeomanry  drive 
before  him  the  pride  of  Europe.  It  was  an  event  that  could 
not  fail  to  destroy  all  previous  theories  and  establish  a  con- 
clusion our  enemy  had  not  before  formed,  that  they  were 
contending  against  valor  inferior  to  none  they  had  seen — 
before  which  their  own  bravery  had  not  stood,  nor  their 
skill  availed  them ;  it  had  the  effect  of  satisfying  them  that 
the  quantity  and  kind  of  troops  it  was  in  his  power  to  yield 
must  be  different  from  what  had  been  represented;  for, 
much  as  they  had  heard  of  the  courage  of  the  man,  they 
could  not  suppose  that  a  general,  having  a  country  to  de- 
fend and  a  reputation  to  preserve,  would  venture  to  attack, 
on  their  own  chosen  ground,  a  greatly  superior  army,  and 
one  which,  by  the  numerous  victories  achieved,  had  already 
acquired  a  fame  in  arms;  they  were  convinced  that  his 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  267 

force  must  greatly  surpass  what  they  had  expected,  and  be 
composed  of  materials  different  from  what  they  had 
imagined. 

"Coffee's  brigade,  during  the  action,  imitating  the  ex- 
ample of  their  commander,  bravely  contended,  and  ably 
supported  the  character  they  had  established.  The  unequal 
contest  in  which  they  were  engaged  never  occurred  to  them, 
nor  for  a  moment  checked  the  rapidity  of  their  advance. 
Had  the  British  known  they  were  mere  riflemen,  without 
bayonets,  a  firm  stand  would  have  arrested  their  progress, 
and  destruction  or  capture  would  be  the  inevitable  conse- 
quence; but  this  circumstance  being  unknown,  every  charge 
they  made  was  crowned  with  success,  producing  discom- 
fiture and  routing  and  driving  superior  numbers  before 
them.  Officers,  from  the  highest  to  inferior  grades,  dis- 
charged what  had  been  expected  of  them.  Ensign  Leach, 
of  the  Seventh  Regiment,  being  wounded  through  the  body, 
still  remained  at  his  post,  and  in  the  performance  of  his 
duty." 

Eaton  says  the  American  troops  actually  engaged  did 
not  amount  to  2,000  men,  that  they  were  contending  with 
a  force  of  4,000  or  5,000,  and  that  Jackson  lost  twenty- 
four  killed,  115  wounded,  and  seventy-four  prisoners,  while 
the  British  loss  was  400. 

This  fight  bewildered  the  British;  they  did  not  know 
what  to  make  of  it — a  gun,  a  long  cannon,  from  the  river 
pouring  shot  into  their  camp;  soldiers  in  front  and  in  the 
rear  rushing  in  on  them  with  a  fury  they  had  never 
dreamed  of,  shooting  at  first,  then  using  knives  and  their 
guns  as  bludgeons,  until  it  became  a  hand-to-hand  fight 
and  until  the  British  were  driven  under  the  bank  of  the 
river,  the  firing  from  the  boat  having  ceased  on  account  of 
the  mixing  up  and  the  desperate  hand-to-hand  struggle  be- 
tween the  contending  forces.  The  "Subaltern"  who  was 
in  this  terrible  night  battle  has  written  it  up  at  great  length, 
but  his  account  is  not  materially  different  from  the  Ameri- 


268  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

It  will  be  observed  that  Carroll  was  not  in  this  fight. 
Jackson  had  left  him  to  watch  the  city  and  the  roads  into 
it,  in  the  belief  that  the  British  might  attempt  a  flank  move- 
ment. In  this  fight  the  Americans  had  no  bayonets,  but 
fought  with  knives,  such  as  Tennessee  soldiers  then  carried. 
The  British  fought  with  bayonets.  The  wounded  and 
dead  on  both  sides  conclusively  showed  the  character  of  the 
battle. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  269 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

JACKSON     TOUCHED     WITH     A    GENIUS     OF     WAR    BROUGHT 

RELIEF HOW     THE     NIGHT     BATTLES     SHOCKED     THE 

BRITISH     ARMY NOLTE^S    STORY    ABOUT    THE    COTTON 

BALES  A  FALSEHOOD ;  NO  COTTON  BALES  USED JACK- 
SON READY  FOR  THE  FIGHT  ON  THE  2/TH  OF  DECEMBER 
TOOK  SOME  REST  AFTER  FOUR  DAYS  AND  NIGHTS  WITH- 
OUT REST THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  28TH  OF  DECEMBER. 

IF  this  country  has  onerated  any  man  with  greater  re- 
sponsibilities than  were  put  on  General  Jackson  in 
defending  New  Orleans  against  the  British  army,  the 
evidence  has  not  been  given  to  the  public ;  and  if  any  public 
man,  in  civil  or  military  life,  has  discharged  a  great  public 
duty  with  more  intelligent  fidelity  and  courage  than  he  did, 
history  does  not  proclaim  it.  His  beloved  country  had 
been  at  war  for  two  years  with  the  most  war-like  nation  in 
the  world.  The  enemy  had  attacked  and  literally  over- 
come, beaten  on  every  field  where  the  issue  had  been  joined, 
the  American  troops,  and  this  in  the  most  populous  parts 
of  the  United  States,  and  where  the  Government  had  put 
forward  all  its  strength  to  oppose  the  invaders.  Such  had 
been  the  victories  of  the  trained  armies  of  England  over 
our  raw  militia  in  the  North,  that  we  were  fast  losing  the 
reputation,  as  a  people  of  martial  spirit,  which  we  had 
when  the  Revolution  closed;  and  the  English  press,  from 
the  London  Times  down  to  the  doggerel  makeshifts,  was 
berating  us  as  a  nation  of  cowards — ready  to  get  up  a  war, 
but  too  cowardly  to  fight. 

The  war  had  been  brought  on  by  a  few  bold  men  in  Con- 
gress, who  fully  appreciated  our  unprepared  state  to  fight 
England,  but  who  were  not  willing  longer  to  bear  the  in- 


270  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

dignities  heaped  upon  us.  Every  ship  we  had  was  land- 
locked; our  seamen  were  in  loathsome  prisons,  taken  from 
our  ships  that  had  been  captured  under  the  pretended  right 
of  search,  and  some  on  their  way  to  England  to  be  tried 
and  hanged  as  traitors,  having  once  been  British  subjects. 

Madison  and  Jefferson,  one  President  and  the  other  ex- 
President,  had  been  doubtful  and  slow  about  bringing  on 
the  war,  owing  to  the  unprepared  state,  and  at  the  very 
time  Jackson  was  exerting  all  his  power  to  rescue  the 
nation  from  dishonor  and  prevent  subjugation,  all  New 
England  was  clamoring  for  peace.  And  from  the  time 
of  the  capitulation  of  Napoleon  our  ministers  abroad  were 
notifying  the  President  of  the  immense  preparations  being 
made  by  England  to  send  an  army  and  navy  to  the  South. 
But  such  was  the  condition  in  the  North  that  no  troops 
could  be  spared  and  sent  to  Jackson.  He  was  made  major 
general,  and  told  to  defend  the  Southern  coast. 

England  had  only  one  ally  in  the  South  —  the  Creek 
Nation  —  the  most  warlike  tribe  of  Indians  at  that  time  on 
the  continent.  This  great  fighting  tribe  inhabited  the 
country  between  the  settlements,  the  Tennesse  River  coun- 
try and  the  Gulf  Coast,  but  Jackson,  of  his  own  motion  and 
without  help  from  the  Government,  had  completly  sup- 
pressed this  ally  before  the  critical  moment  now  under 
consideration  came.  At  the  time  Jackson  closed  up  the 
Jackson  treaty  with  the  Creek  Indians,  there  was  abso- 
lutely no  force  with  which  to  protect  New  Orleans  and 
defend  the  Southern  coast. 

It  can  be  said,  and  ought  to  be  written  in  letters  that  will 
live  forever,  that  Jackson  —  Jackson,  solitary  and  alone, 
and  by  force  of  his  own  character,  backed  only  by  a  will 
power  as  resistless  as  commanding,  and  with  which  every 
movement  was  touched  with  the  genius  of  war  —  organized 
the  army  that  saved  the  entire  nation  from  the  deepest 
humiliation. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  271 

When  Jackson  fought  the  battle  of  Pensacola  and  turned 
his  troops  in  the  direction  of  New  Orleans,  there  was  not 
force  enough  in  that  city  to  protect  it  against  one  single 
British  regiment.  And,  in  fact,  until  the  5,300  Ten- 
nesseans  under  Carroll  and  Coffee  reached  New  Orleans, 
Jackson  had  nothing  he  could  rely  on  but  the  magic  of  his 
dominating  presence.  If  the  enemy  had  moved  upon  him 
at  any  time  after  he  reached  New  Orleans  he  would  have 
gone  into  the  city,  perhaps  over  the  dead  body  of  the  great 
soldier,  but  certainly  into  it,  and  with  only  a  bare  pretense 
of  resistance. 

The  battle  of  the  23d  of  December,  the  night  battle  — 
led  by  Jackson  in  person  —  was  a  shock  to  the  British  army. 
The  whole  army  seemed  to  be  stunned  by  it,  and  so  the 
"Subaltern"  puts  it.  They  were  dumbfounded;  they  did 
not  know  what  to  make  of  it.  As  the  "Subaltern,"  in  a 
long  and  carefully  written  account  of  it,  shows,  the  British 
officers  came  to  the  conclusion  (friends  who  had  slipped  out 
of  New  Orleans  and  come  over  to  them  had  told  them 
stories  about  Jackson's  scant  and  ragged  army)  that 
Jackson  must  have  an  immense  force;  that,  while  they  had 
heard  much  of  Jackson's  dash  and  courage,  they  did  not 
believe  any  general  who  did  not  have  an  immense  army 
behind  him  would  have  risked  such  an  attack  as  that  on  the 
night  of  the  23d. 

Before  daylight  on  the  24th,  Jackson  ordered  Carroll  up 
to  renew  the  fight  of  the  23d,  but  on  receiving  reliable 
information  that  the  enemy  was  largely  reinforced,  he 
adopted  the  policy  of  strengthening  his  defenses  and  waiting 
the  assault  of  the  enemy. 

Among  other  losses  in  the  celebrated  night  battle  was  that 
of  Colonel  Lauderdale,  of  Coffee's  brigade,  an  officer  on 
whom  every  reliance  was  placed.  He  fell  at  his  post.  He 
had  entered  the  service  and  descended  the  river  with  the 
volunteers  under  General  Jackson  in  1812,  passed  through 


272  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

\ 

all  the  hardships  of  the  Creek  War,  and  had  ever  manifested 
a  readiness  when  the  country  needed  his  services.  Young, 
brave,  and  skillful,  he  had  furnished  ample  evidence  of  his 
capacity  as  an  officer.  His  death  was  generally  regretted, 
but  especially  did  General  Jackson  deplore  his  loss.  He 
never  had  a  better  soldier. 

The  rising  sun  of  the  24th  found  Jackson's  army  at  work 
on  the  fortifications  for  the  coming  battle.  Bringing  up 
and  landing  new  troops  constantly,  there  was  no  mistaking 
the  purpose  of  the  enemy,  and  Jackson  instantly  realized 
that  the  entire  force  would,  and  perhaps  very  soon,  under- 
take to  enter  the  city.  The  line  of  his  defense  had  already 
been  chosen. 

A  florid  and  unreliable  writer  named  Nolte  worked  up  a 
story,  weaving  himself  into  it,  about  Jackson's  breastworks 
of  cotton  bales,  which  has  gone  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth,  and  since  I  have  been  writing  this  chapter  I  saw  in 
a  city  paper  a  recognition  of  the  cotton-bale  story.  Here 
is  the  way  Nolte  tells  it : 

"Jackson,  who  at  once  adopted  the  plan,  was  anxious  to 
lose  no  time.  It  was  intimated  to  him  that  in  the  city  he 
could  procure  plenty  of  cotton  at  from  7  to  8  cents  per 
pound,  but  that  it  would  cost  a  whole  day  to  bring  it  to  the 
spot.  He  was  then  told  that  not  far  from  the  camp,  and  in 
the  rear  of  his  position,  there  lay  a  bark  in  the  stream,  laden 
with  cotton,  for  Havana.  The  name  of  this  vessel  was 
Pallas,  unless  my  memory,  after  a  lapse  of  thirty-eight 
years,  deceives  me,  and  she  was  to  have  sailed  before  the 
arrival  of  the  British  force.  Her  cargo  consisted  of  245 
bales,  which  I  had  shipped  previously  to  the  invasion,  and 
the  remainder,  about  sixty  bales,  belonged  to  a  Spaniard 
named  Fernando  Alzar,  resident  at  New  Orleans.  It  was 
only  when  the  cotton  had  been  brought  to  the  camp  and  they 
were  proceeding  to  lay  the  first  bales  in  the  redoubt  that  the 
marks  struck  my  attention  and  I  recognized  my  own  prop- 
erty. Adjutant  Livingstone,  who  had  been  my  usual  legal 
counsel  at  New  Orleans,  that  evening  inspected  Battery  No. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  273 

3,  where  the  men  were  arranging  some  bales.  I  was  some- 
what vexed  at  the  idea  of  their  taking  cotton  of  the  best 
sort,  and  worth  from  10  to  n  cents,  out  of  a  ship  already 
loaded  and  on  the  point  of  sailing,  instead  of  procuring  the 
cheaper  kind,  which  was  to  be  had  in  plenty  throughout  the 
suburbs  of  the  city  at  7  or  8  cents,  and  said  as  much  to 
Livingstone. 

"He,  who  was  never  at  a  loss  for  a  reply,  at  once 
answered,  'Well,  Mr.  Nolte,  if  this  is  your  cotton,  you,  at 
least,  will  not  think  it  any  hardship  to  defend  it.'  This 
anecdote,  which  was  first  related  by  myself,  gave  rise  to  the 
story  that  Jackson,  when  a  merchant  was  complaining  of 
the  loss  of  his  cotton,  had  ordered  a  sergeant  to  hand  the 
gentleman  a  rifle,  with  the  remark,  'No  one  can  defend  these 
cotton  bales  better  than  their  owners  can,  and  I  hope  you 
will  not  leave  the  spot.'  " 

There  was  some  experiment  made  with  cotton  bales,  but 
the  question  of  fire  and  smoke  occurred  to  General  Jackson, 
and  it  was  abandoned;  not  one  cotton  bale  was  used  as  a 
means  of  defense ;  not  one  was  used  in  any  of  the  battles. 

There  was  below  the  city  what  was  once  known  as  the 
Roderiquez  Canal.  It  had  extended  from  the  swamp  to 
the  river,  a  distance  of  more  than  one  mile,  but  parts  of  it, 
however,  were  filled  with  dirt.  When  the  fog  of  the  morn- 
ing of  the  24th  cleared  away,  Jackson's  army  was  behind 
this  canal.  Not  only  the  army,  but  every  available  man  in 
the  city,  every  shovel,  was  brought  into  requisition.  This 
canal,  a  great  big  ditch,  was  rapidly  cleaned  out,  and  the 
part  of  it  next  the  river  for  a  considerable  distance,  which 
had  been  closed  up,  was  reopened,  so  that  the  ditch  extended 
entirely  across  the  plain  at  the  narrowest  place. 

This  24th  day  of  December,  1814,  should  be  called  the 
day  of  chronicles.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  the  day  of  all 
work.  Never  did  5,000  men  do  more  digging  and  shovel- 
ing in  one  day,  while  the  coerced  labor  of  the  city  brought 
timbers,  barrels,  fence  rails,  and  all  conceivable  material 


274  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

out  of  which  to  build  the  breastworks  on  the  side  of  the 
ditch  next  the.  city.  In  the  second  place,  it  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  test  of  Jackson's  wonderful  endurance,  which, 
if  true,  is  the  most  remarkable  illustration  of  great  endur- 
ance under  great  excitement  on  record. 

The  story  is  not  always  credited,  but  it  comes  from  Liv- 
ingstone and  Reed,  who  were  Jackson's  aides  and  with  him 
every  day.  Here  is  the  account  given : 

"The  anxiety  and  excitement,  produced  by  the  mighty 
object  before  him,  were  such  as  overcame  the  demand  of 
nature,  and  for  four  days  and  four  nights  he  was  without 
sleep  and  was  constantly  employed.  His  line  of  defense 
being  completed  on  the  night  of  the  2/th,  he,  for  the  first 
time  since  the  arrival  of  the  enemy,  retired  to  rest  and 
repose.  Edward  Livingstone,  in  careless,  familiar  con- 
versation, used  to  say  'three  days  and  three  nights.'  'Nor, 
during  these  days,'  the  same  gentleman  was  accustomed  to 
say,  'did  the  General  once  sit  at  table  or  take  a  regular  meal. 
Food  was  brought  to  him  in  the  field,  which  he  would 
oftenest  consume  without  dismounting.'  When  Mr.  Liv- 
ingstone, fearful  of  the  consequences  of  such  unremitting 
toil  upon  a  constitution  severely  shattered,  would  remon- 
strate with  him  and  implore  him  to  take  some  repose,  he 
would  reply :  'No,  sir ;  there's  no  knowing  when  or  where 
these  rascals  will  attack.  They  shall  not  catch  me  unpre- 
pared. When  we  have  driven  the  red-coated  villains  into 
the  swamp,  there  will  be  time  enough  to  sleep.'  " 

In  the  third  place,  this  24th  day  of  December,  1814, 
Saturday,  was  the  day  on  which  the  treaty  of  Ghent  was 
signed  and  peace  made.  And  here  I  want  to  say  again 
that  the  commissioners  were  all  of  the  opinion  that  Jack- 
son's victories  in  the  Creek  Nation  the  winter  before  made 
this  treaty  possible.  In  the  fourth  place,  that  Saturday, 
the  24th,  General  Packenham,  accompanied  by  Major  Gen- 
eral Gibbs,  arrived  from  England  to  take  command  of  the 
army. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  275 

It  has  generally  been  a  matter  of  surprise  that,  after  the 
battle  of  the  2$d,  the  British  army  was  inactive  until  the 
8th  of  January  —  fifteen  days  —  while  Jackson  was  fortify- 
ing, and  under  such  circumstances  that  the  general  in  com- 
mand of  the  British  army  must  have  known  what  he  was 
doing.  The  least  vigilance,  by  the  use  of  glasses  or  by  his 
scouts,  would  have  shown  the  most  determined  activity  on 
the  part  of  Jackson.  While  the  British  commander  has 
been  criticised  on  account  of  his  delay,  and  the  American 
public  especially  has  been  unable  to  account  for  it,  there  has 
been  a  great  lack  of  information  as  to  what  was  done. 
General  Packenham  arrived  and  took  command  of  the  army 
on  the  24th.  The  disaster  of  the  night  before  had  left  the 
army  with  a  bewildered  outlook.  This  is  shown  by  the 
"Subaltern"  in  describing  a  dinner  by  the  officers  on  the 
25th. 

The  first  thing  General  Packenham  did  was  to  give 
orders  that  heavy  guns  must  be  brought  up  and  the  Carolina 
destroyed.  She  was  in  the  river  and  throwing  shot  in  such 
a  way  as  to  satisfy  General  Packenham  that,  while  this 
boat  and  the  Louisiana,  just  above,  were  in  the  river,  he 
could  not  move  his  army  along  the  road  up  the  river  bank 
and  attack  Jackson  and  reach  New  Orleans.  These  big 
guns  were  brought  up  from  the  ships  and  put  in  position. 
This  was  the  27th.  A  most  gallant  defense  was  made,  but 
this  is  the  report  made  by  Captain  Henley : 

"Finding  that  hot  shot  were  passing  through  her  cabin 
and  filling-room,  which  contained  a  considerable  quantity 
of  powder,  her  bulwarks  all  knocked  down  by  the  enemy's 
shot,  the  vessel,  in  a  sinking  condition,  and  the  fire  increas- 
ing, and  expecting  every  moment  that  she  would  blow  up, 
at  a  little  after  sunrise  I  reluctantly  gave  orders  for  the  crew 
to  abandon  her,  which  was  effected  with  the  loss  of  one 
man  killed  and  six  wounded.  A  short  time  after  I  had 
gotten  the  crew  on  shore  I  had  the  extreme  mortification  of 


276  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

seeing  her  blown  up.  It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to 
acknowledge  the  able  assistance  I  received  from  Lieutenants 
Norris  and  Crawley  and  Sailing  Master  Haller,  and  to  say 
that  my  officers  and  crew  behaved  on  this  occasion,  as  well 
as  on  the  2$d,  when  under  your  own  eye,  in  a  most  gallant 
manner.  Almost  every  article  of  clothing  belonging  to  the 
officers  and  crew,  from  the  rapid  progress  of  the  fire,  was 
involvd  in  the  destruction  of  the  vessel." 


General  Jackson,  from  his  headquarters,  witnessed  the 
terrific  attack  on  the  Carolina,  and  soon  discovered  that  the 
end  of  the  boat  which  had  done  such  service  on  the  night 
of  the  23d  had  come.  The  Louisiana  was  higher  up  the 
river,  but  not  out  of  reach  of  the  big  guns,  and  while  the 
shooting  to  pieces  of  the  Carolina  was  going  on,  by  an 
extraordinary  effort  Jackson  had  the  Louisiana  pushed 
further  up  the  river  and  saved  until  some  other  move  should 
be  made. 

While  this  was  going  on,  General  Jackson's  greatest 
concern  was  about  strengthening  and  increasing  his  fortifi- 
cations. The  army,  as  well  as  the  General,  saw  the  time 
had  come.  Never  was  a  better  day's  work  done.  The 
"Subaltern"  shows  a  most  extraordinary  state  of  things  on 
the  night  of  the  2/th  in  the  British  army.  The  soldiers  got 
no  rest ;  that  Jackson's  Indian  fighters  kept  the  whole  army 
in  commotion;  they  would  in  squads  run  in  on  the  lines 
and  fire  in  on  sleeping  squads,  causing  great  excitement 
throughout  the  army.  This  was  probably  increased  by  a 
remembrance  of  the  23d,  that  they  killed  their  pickets  and 
shot  the  roundsmen.  He  shows  that  one  of  these  Indian 
fighters  killed  three  sentinels  at  one  post  —  killing  one,  get- 
ting his  gun,  removing  the  body  a  short  distance  and  wait- 
ing until  his  place  was  supplied,  and  that  he  piled  up  three 
sentinels  and  left. 

The  morning  of  the  28th  was  a  bright  and  balmy  day. 
Jackson  early  in  the  morning  discovered  by  the  use  of  his 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  277 

glasses  that  General  Packenham  was  preparing  for  his  final 
attack.  All  Jackson's  early  biographers  say  he  was  never 
better  pleased.  Besides  the  spirit  of  "fight  on  first  sight," 
which  was  his  nature,  as  his  whole  life  shows,  he  was  now 
ready,  as  he  believed,  to  meet  the  enemy.  The  Carolina 
being  disposed  of,  the  captain  and  his  marines  were  in  the 
ranks.  Jackson  had  a  way  of  using  seamen  as  soldiers, 
soldiers  as  seamen,  cavalry  as  infantry,  and  infantry  as 
cavalry. 

Not  getting  ready  on  the  2  7th,  Packenham  had  his  army 
early  to  rest  for  the  next  day,  but  the  "Subaltern"  gives 
the  account  of  the  night's  rest  in  the  following  graphic 
language : 

"Sending  down  small  bodies  of  riflemen,  the  American 
General  harassed  our  pickets,  killed  and  wounded  a  few  of 
the  sentinels,  and  prevented  the  main  body  from  obtaining 
any  sound  or  refreshing  sleep.  Scarcely  had  the  troops 
laid  down  when  they  were  aroused  by  a  sharp  firing  at  the 
outposts,  which  lasted  only  till  they  were  in  order,  and  then 
ceased;  but  as  soon  as  they  had  dispersed  and  had  once 
more  addressed  themselves  to  repose,  the  same  cause  of 
alarm  returned  and  they  were  again  called  to  their  ranks. 
Thus  was  the  entire  night  spent  in  watching,  or,  at  least,  in 
broken  and  disturbed  slumbers,  than  which  nothing  is  more 
trying,  both  to  the  health  and  spirits  of  an  army. 

"An  enemy  was  to  them  an  enemy,  whether  alone  or  in 
the  midst  of  5,000  companions,  and  they  therefore  counted 
the  death  of  every  individual  as  so  much  taken  from  the 
strength  of  the  whole.  In  point  of  fact,  they  no  doubt 
reasoned  correctly,  but  to  us  at  least  it  appeared  an  ungener- 
ous return  to  barbarity.  Whenever  they  could  approach 
unperceived  in  proper  distance  of  our  watch  fires,  six  or 
eight  riflemen  would  fire  among  the  party  that  sat  around 
them,  while  one  or  two,  stealing  as  close  to  each  sentinel  as 
a  regard  to  their  own  safety  would  permit,  acted  the  part 
of  assassins  rather  than  that  of  soldiers,  and  attempted  to 
murder  them  in  cold  blood;  for  the  officers  likewise,  in 
going  their  rounds,  they  constantly  lay  in  wait,  and  thus  by 


278  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

a  continued  dropping  fire,  they  not  only  wounded  some 
against  whom  their  aim  was  directed,  but  occasioned  con- 
siderable anxiety  and  uneasiness  throughout  the  whole  line." 

This  gives  an  insight  into  Jackson's  generalship  only 
found  in  the  reports  of  the  enemy.  It  was  strategem  of  the 
highest  order,  and  was  kept  up  nightly  until  the  final  battle 
on  the  8th  of  January. 

While  in  some  way  or  by  some  means  the  battle  of  the 
28th  is  scarcely  known  to  the  American  people  as  a  feature 
in  this  wonderful  campaign,  the  British  historian,  the  "Sub- 
altern," so  complimented  by  Lord  Wellington  for  writing 
what  he  saw,  gives  an  account  of  this  battle,  which  is  a  most 
interesting  chapter  in  American  history. 

I  cannot  do  better  than  to  give  his  account,  which,  coming 
from  a  British  writer  who  witnessed  it  and  was  a  soldier  in 
it,  will  not  be  taken  as  more  than  fair  to  the  American  army. 
Here  is  what  he  says : 

"The  enemy's  corps  of  observation  (Hinds'  dragoons) 
fell  back  as  we  advanced,  without  offering  in  any  way  to 
impede  our  progress,  and  it  was  impossible,  ignorant  as  we 
were  of  the  position  of  the  enemy's  main  body,  at  what 
moment  opposition  might  be  expected.  Nor,  in  truth, 
was  it  a  matter  of  much  anxiety.  Our  spirits,  in  spite  of 
the  troubles  of  the  night,  were  good,  and  our  expectations 
of  success  were  high;  consequently,  many  rude  jests  were 
bandied  about  and  many  careless  words  spoken,  for  soldiers 
are,  of  all  classes  of  men,  the  freest  from  care,  and  on  that 
account,  perhaps,  the  most  happy.  By  being  continually 
exposed  to  it,  danger  with  them  ceased  to  be  frightful;  of 
death  they  have  no  more  terror  than  the  beasts  that  perish ; 
and  even  hardships,  such  as  cold,  wet,  hunger,  and  broken 
rest,  lose  at  least  part  of  their  disagreeableness  by  the  fre- 
quency of  their  occurrence. 

"Moving  on  in  this  merry  mood,  we  advanced  about  four 
or  five  miles  without  the  smallest  check  or  hindrance,  when 
at  length  we  found  ourselves  in  view  of  the  enemy's  army 
poster  in  a  very  advantageous  manner.  About  forty  yards 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  279 

in  their  front  was  a  canal,  which  extended  from  the  morass 
to  within  a  short  distance  of  the  high  road.  Along  their 
line  were  thrown  up  breastworks,  not  indeed  completed,  but 
even  now  formidable.  Upon  the  road,  and  at  several  other 
points,  were  erected  powerful  batteries,  whilst  the  ship,  with 
a  large  flotilla  of  gunboats,  flanked  the  whole  position  from 
the  river. 

"When  I  say  that  we  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy  I  do  not 
mean  that  he  was  gradually  exposed  to  us  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  leave  time  for  cool  examination  and  reflection.  On 
the  right,  indeed,  he  was  seen  for  some  time,  but  on  the  left 
a  few  houses  built  at  a  turning  in  the  road  entirely  concealed 
him ;  nor  was  it  till  they  had  gained  that  turning  point  and 
beheld  the  muzzles  of  the  guns  pointed  towards  them  that 
those  who  moved  in  this  direction  were  aware  of  their  prox- 
imity to  danger,  but  that  danger  was,  indeed  near,  they 
were  quickly  taught;  for,  scarcely  had  the  head  of  the 
column  passed  the  houses  when  a  deadly  fire  opened  from 
both  the  battery  and  the  shipping.  That  the  Americans 
are  excellent  marksmen,  as  well  with  artillery  as  with  rifles, 
we  have  had  frequent  calls  to  acknowledge;  but,  perhaps, 
on  no  occasion  do  they  assert  their  claims  to  the  title  of  good 
artillerymen  more  effectually  than  on  the  present.  Scarcely 
a  ball  passed  over  or  fell  short  of  its  mark,  but  all  striking 
in  the  midst  of  our  ranks,  occasioned  terrible  havoc.  The 
shrieks  of  the  wounded,  therefore,  the  crash  of  firelocks  of 
such  as  were  killed  caused  at  first  some  little  confusion,  and 
what  added  to  the  panic  was  that  from  the  houses  beside 
bright  flames  suddenly  burst  out.  The  Americans,  expect- 
ing this  attack,  had  filled  them  with  combustibles  for  the 
purpose,  and,  directing  against  them  one  or  two  guns  loaded 
with  redhot  shot,  in  an  instant  set  them  on  fire.  The  scene 
was  altogether  very  sublime.  A  tremendous  cannonade 
mowed  down  our  ranks  and  deafened  us  with  its  roar,  whilst 
two  large  chateaus  and  their  outbuildings  almost  scorched 
us  with  the  smoke  which  they  emitted. 

"The  infantry,  however,  was  not  long  suffered  to  remain 
thus  exposed,  but,  being  ordered  to  quit  the  path,  and  to 
form  the  line  in  the  fields,  the  artillery  was  brought  up  and 
opposed  to  that  of  the  enemy.  But  the  contest  was  in  every 
respect  unequal,  since  their  artillery  far  exceeded  ours,  both 


280  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

in  numerical  strength  and  weight  of  metal.  The  conse- 
quence was  that  in  half  an  hour  two  of  our  field  pieces  and 
one  field  mortar  were  dismounted,  many  of  the  gunners 
were  killed,  and  the  rest,  after  an  ineffectual  attempt  to 
silence  the  fire  of  a  shipping,  were  obliged  to  retire. 

"In  the  meantime,  the  infantry  having  formed  line, 
advanced  under  a  heavy  discharge  of  round  and  grape  shot 
till  they  were  checked  by  the  appearance  of  the  canal.  Of 
its  depth  they  were,  of  course,  ignorant,  and  to  attempt  its 
passage  without  having  ascertained  whether  it  could  be 
forded  might  have  been  productive  of  fatal  consequences. 
A  halt  was  accordingly  ordered,  and  the  men  were  com- 
manded to  shelter  themselves  as  well  as  they  could  from  the 
enemy's  fire.  For  this  reason  they  were  hurried  into  a  wet 
ditch  of  sufficient  depth  to  cover  their  knees,  where,  leaning 
forward,  they  concealed  themselves  behind  some  high  rushes 
which  grew  upon  its  brink,  and  thus  escaped  many  bullets 
which  fell  around  them  in  all  directions. 

"Thus  fared  it  with  the  left  of  the  army,  whilst  the  right, 
though  less  exposed  to  the  cannonade,  was  not  more  suc- 
cessful in  its  object.  The  same  impediment  which  checked 
one  column  forced  the  other  likewise  to  pause,  and,  after 
having  driven  in  an  advance  body  of  the  enemy,  and  endeav- 
oring without  effect  to  penetrate  through  the  marsh,  it  also 
was  commanded  to  halt.  In  a  word,  all  thought  of  attack- 
ing was  for  the  day  abandoned,  and  it  now  only  remained 
to  withdraw  the  troops  from  their  present  perilous  situation 
with  as  little  loss  as  possible. 

"The  first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  remove  the  dismounted 
guns.  Upon  this  enterprise  a  party  of  seamen  was 
employed,  who,  running  forward  to  the  spot  where  they 
lay,  lifted  them,  in  spite  of  the  whole  of  the  enemy's  fire, 
and  bore  them  off  in  triumph.  As  soon  as  this  was  effected, 
regiment  after  regiment  stole  away,  not  in  a  body,  but  one 
by  one,  under  the  same  discharge  which  saluted  their 
approach.  But  a  retreat  thus  conducted  necessarily  occu- 
pied much  time.  Noon  had  long  passed  before  the  last 
corps  was  brought  off,  and  when  we  again  began  to  muster 
twilight  was  approaching." 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  281 

In  addition  to  the  "Subaltern,"  a  British  officer  named 
Hill  wrote  about  this  battle  of  the  28th,  in  which  he  said : 

"In  spite  of  our  sanguine  expectations  of  sleeping  that 
night  in  New  Orleans,  evening  found  us  occupying  our 
negro  hut  at  Villeres,  nor  was  I  sorry  that  the  shades  of 
night  concealed  our  mortification  from  the  prisoners  and 
slaves.  As  for  our  allies,  the  Indians,  they  had  not 
increased  in  number.  The  countless  tribes  promised  by 
Colonel  Nichols  had  not  yet  appeared ;  the  five  or  six  red- 
skins I  have  already  named  hung  about  headquarters.  The 
prophet,  to  avoid  censure  at  the  fallacy  of  his  predictions, 
contrived  to  get  gloriously  drunk,  nor  was  the  King  of  the 
Muscogies  in  a  much  more  sober  state.  His  Majesty  had 
consoled  himself  for  the  ill  fortune  of  the  day  by  going 
from  hut  to  hut  imploring  rum  and  asserting  that  he  hun- 
gered for  drink." 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  giving  the  facts  about  this 
battle  of  the  28th,  and  especially  giving  what  English 
writers  have  said  about  it,  because  so  little  attention  has 
been  paid  to  it  by  American  writers  generally,  that  but  little 
is  known  of  it  by  our  people.  It  was  like  the  battle  of  the 
23d  —  a  most  sanguinary  battle,  with  very  considerable  loss 
to  the  enemy  and  a  complete  victory.  The  battle  scarcely 
known  by  the  American  people  to  have  been  fought  was  a 
bigger  battle  than  any  fought  in  the  Spanish  War  or  in  the 
Philippine  War. 

The  truth  is,  we  have  scarcely  known  anything  as  to 
General  Jackson's  campaign,  except  that  he  destroyed  the 
Creek  Nation,  captured  Pensacola,  and  fought  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans.  Indeed,  Jackson  had  the  British  whipped 
before  he  got  to  them,  and  his  great  generalship  was  dis- 
played in  getting  ready  to  fight  the  final  battle. 

This  battle  of  the  28th,  like  the  night  battle  of  the  23d,  as 
given  by  British  officers  and  correspondents  who  were  in  it, 
and  were  eye  witnesses,  gives  us  new  American  history. 


282  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

The  final  great  victory  of  the  8th  of  January,  like  a  great 
light  in  the  heavens  that  obscures  lesser  lights  —  so  the 
world-wide  victory  of  the  8th  hid  away  the  triumphant 
victories  of  the  2$d,  the  28th,  and  the  1st  of  January,  until 
the  truth  is  gathered  up  from  the  vanquished  soldiers  who 
witnessed  them,  and  came  to  tell  the  story  as  they  saw  it. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  283 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE    "SUBALTERN"    A    WITNESS  —  WALKER,    AUTHOR   OF 
"JACKSON  AND  NEW  ORLEANS/'  BECOMES  A  WITNESS  — 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  FIRST  OF  JANUARY THE  GREAT 

BATTLE  CONTEST  FROM  THE  2$D  OF  DECEMBER  UNTIL 
THE  8TH  OF  JANUARY  —  IT  WAS  A  CONTINUOUS  FIGHT. 

[  •  ^SHE  "Subaltern"  says  that  during  the  last  three  days 
of  the  year  the  British  army  remained  inactive, 
without  an  effort  to  fortify  its  position  or  to  annoy 
the  enemy.  In  this  the  "Subaltern"  was  evidently  mis- 
taken, because  every  hour  of  the  three  days  was  consumed 
in  getting  heavy  guns  in  position.  "Some  attempts,"  he 
says,  "were  set  on  foot  to  penetrate  the  woods  on  the  right 
of  the  line,  and  to  discover  a  way  through  the  morass,  by 
which  the  enemy's  left  might  be  turned.  But  all  this,"  he 
says,  "proved  fruitless,  and,  a  few  valuable  lives  having 
been  sacrificed,  the  idea  was  laid  aside."  Then  he  goes  on : 
"In  the  meanwhile  the  American  General  directed  the  whole 
of  his  attention  to  the  strengthening  of  his  line.  Day  and 
night  we  could  observe  numerous  parties  at  work  upon  his 
lines,  whilst  from  the  increased  number  of  tents,  which 
might  almost  every  hour  be  discerned,  it  is  evident  that 
strong  reinforcements  were  constantly  passing  into  his 
camp."  (In  this  he  was  mistaken,  as  no  reinforcements 
came. ) 

"Nor  did  he  leave  us  totally  unmolested.  By  giving  his 
guns  a  great  degree  of  elevation,  he  contrived  at  last  to 
reach  our  bivouac,  and  thus  we  were  constantly  under  a 
cannonade,  which,  though  it  did  little  execution,  was 
extremely  annoying.  Besides  this,  he  now  began  to  erect 


284  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

batteries  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  from  which  a 
flanking  fire  could  be  thrown  across  the  entire  front  of  his 
position.  In  short,  he  adopted  every  precaution  which 
prudence  could  suggest,  and  for  which  the  nature  of  the 
ground  was  so  admirably  adapted" — a  great  compliment 
from  the  enemy. 

This  is  the  recognized  British  chronicle  of  the  days  on 
which  the  fate  of  a  nation  seemed  to  be  turning.  He  shows 
that,  while  the  British  army  was  already  so  beaten  that  it 
did  nothing  during  these  three  days,  General  Jackson  was 
not  only  vigilant,  but  intelligently  working  for  the  great 
conflict  which  must  come.  It  was  during  these  three  days 
that  he  put  all  his  soldiers  who  had  no  guns  at  work  building 
a  second  line  of  defense,  two  miles  nearer  the  city,  so  that 
if  driven  from  his  first  line  he  could  fall  back  to  that  line  and 
make  another  stand.  These  three  days  were  in  the  time 
that  his  officers  say  he  did  not  sleep  and  took  his  meals  on 
horseback.  It  was  at  this  time  that  a  member  of  the  Legis- 
lature asked  General  Jackson  what  he  would  do  if  he  had  to 
give  up  New  Orleans,  when  his  reply  was :  "If  I  thought 
one  hair  of  my  head  knew  what  I  was  going  to  do,  I  would 
pull  it  out." 

But  years  afterward  General  Jackson  told  Major  Eaton 
that  if  he  had  been  driven  from  his  position,  he  would  have 
burned  the  city  and  retreated  up  the  river,  fighting  over 
every  inch  of  the  ground.  General  Jackson  fully  believed 
from  the  Lafitte  papers,  which  turned  out  to  be  genuine, 
and  from  the  cruel  and  savage  conduct  of  the  British  army 
in  'the  North,  that  the  whole  South  would  be  laid  in  ruins 
unless  he  could  check  the  army;  and  that  the  plan  was  to 
take  New  Orleans,  then  ascend  the  river  and  take  and  divide 
up  the  country,  forming  a  junction  with  the  victorious 
armies  of  the  North.  Indeed,  as  it  turned  out,  there  were 
civil  officers  already  appointed  to  hold  the  important  posi- 
tions at  New  Orleans  and  other  cities,  and  these  civil 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  285 

officers  were  a  part  of  the  fleet  that  left  Jamaica.  The 
collector  of  revenue  brought  all  his  family,  five  daughters, 
who  were  to  be  substituted  for  Creole  society.  The  fear 
that  Jackson  might,  if  defeated,  make  a  Moscow  of  New 
Orleans,  caused  the  belief  that  the  Legislature  was  about 
to  surrender  the  city,  causing  Jackson  to  guard  it  while  he 
whipped  the  British. 

Jackson  believed  the  British  meant,  by  a  coalition  with 
the  Indians,  to  subjugate  the  country,  and  on  this  issue  New 
Orleans  was  nothing.  He  intended,  if  driven  from  his 
lines  of  defense,  to  call  out  every  man  in  the  Southern 
States  that  could  get  a  gun,  raise  new  armies,  cut  off  their 
supplies,  and  defend  the  liberties  of  the  people  as  long  as 
one  man  could  carry  a  gun.  Jackson  impressed  Carroll 
and  Coffee  —  in  fact,  all  his  followers,  indeed,  his  private 
soldiers,  to  a  certain  extent  —  that  the  country  must  be 
defended,  or  as  soldiers  they  must  all  die;  that  death  was 
the  soldier's  inheritance  and  rightful  reward,  if  it  came  in 
the  line  of  duty  in  defending  his  country. 

In  the  Creek  War,  in  the  forts,  in  all  the  battles  in  defense 
of  New  Orleans,  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  Jackson  inspired 
both  officers  and  men  under  him  with  a  courage  of  despera- 
tion as  no  other  general  ever  did  in  this  country. 

The  battle  of  the  8th  of  January  is  a  mystery.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  believe  the  well-established  facts.  Historians  have 
been  slow  to  admit  the  facts  as  they  are.  In  these  chapters 
I  am  undertaking  to  account  for  this  marvelous  triumph 
by  untrained  militia  over  one  of  the  best  armies  England 
ever  sent  into  the  field,  and  I  trust  my  readers  will  not  be 
impatient  to  have  me  reach  that  memorable  day  in  our 
history,  because  to  know  and  be  satisfied  about  the  result 
of  the  8th,  and  the  complete  triumph  of  General  Jackson, 
contending  with  more  than  double  his  number,  and  how  it 
was  done,  the  whole  facts  must  be  given,  though  it  may 
seem  tedious.  No  writer  that  I  have  found  has  satisfac- 


286  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

torily  accounted  for  this  marvelous  chapter  in  war.  Jack- 
son, by  a  generalship  that  has  no  counterpart,  whipped  this 
great  battle  before  he  got  to  it.  If  I  take  what  may  seem 
to  be  more  time  than  necessary  in  reaching  the  final  struggle, 
let  it  be  remembered  that  nothing  like  it  is  recorded  in 
history. 

Two  thousand  dead  British,  and  less  than  a  dozen  men 
lost  on  the  American  side,  is  the  wonder  in  war's  record,  the 
loss  from  the  time  of  landing  being  more  than  3,000. 

One  of  the  most  graphic,  as  well  as  reliable,  of  all  the 
writers  on  this  eventful  period  is  Mr.  Walker,  in  "Jackson 
and  New  Orleans."  He  describes  the  three  days  between 
the  28th  of  December,  1814,  and  the  ist  of  January,  1815, 
when  the  two  armies  were  confronting  each  other  on  a 
level  plain,  as  follows : 

"These  wily  frontiersmen,"  continued  Mr.  Walker, 
"habituated  to  the  Indian  mode  of  warfare,  never  missed  a 
chance  of  picking  up  a  straggler  or  sentinel.  Clad  in  their 
dusky,  brown  homespun,  they  would  glide  unperceived 
through  the  woods,  and,  taking  a  cool  view  of  the  enemy's 
lines,  would  cover  the  first  Briton  who  came  within  range 
of  their  long,  small-bored  rifles.  Nor  did  they  waste  their 
ammunition.  Whenever  they  drew  a  bead  on  any  object 
it  was  certain  to  fall.  The  cool  indifference  with  which 
they  would  perform  the  most  daring  acts  would  be  amazing. 

"The  plain  between  the  two  hostile  camps  was  alive  day 
and  night  with  small  parties  on  foot  and  horse,  wandering 
to  and  fro  in  pursuit  of  adventure,  on  the  trail  of  recon- 
noiterers,  stragglers,  and  outpost  sentinels.  The  natural 
restlessness  and  nomadic  tendency  of  the  Americans  were 
here  conspicuously  displayed.  After  a  while  there  grew 
up  a  regular  science  in  the  conduct  of  these  modes  of  vexing, 
annoying,  and  weakening  the  enemy.  Their  system,  it  is 
true,  is  not  to  be  found  in  Vauben's,  Steuben's,  or  Scott's 
Military  Tactics,  but  it  nevertheless  proved  to  be  quite  effect- 
ive. It  was  as  follows :  A  small  number  of  each  corps,  being 
permitted  to  leave  the  lines,  would  start  from  their  position, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  287 

and  all  converge  to  a  central  point  in  front  of  the  lines. 
Here  they  would,  when  all  collected,  make  quite  a  formi- 
dable body  of  men,  and,  electing  their  own  commander, 
would  proceed  to  attack  the  nearest  British  outpost,  or 
advance  in  extended  lines,  so  as  to  create  alarm  in  the 
enemy's  camp  and  subject  them  to  the  vexation  of  being 
driven  to  arms,  in  the  midst  of  which  the  scouting  party 
would  be  unusually  lucky  if  it  did  not  succeed  in  'bagging' 
one  or  two  of  the  enemy's  advanced  sentinels. 

"In  such  incessant  scouting  parties  and  volunteer  opera- 
tions as  we  have  described  a  majority  of  Jackson's  command 
were  engaged  during  a  greater  part  of  the  night.  So 
daring  were  these  attacks  that  on  more  than  one  occasion 
the  six-pounders  were  advanced  from  the  lines  and  drawn 
within  cannon  shot  of  the  outposts,  when  they  would  be 
discharged  at  the  sentinels  or  any  living  object,  generally 
with  some  effect,  and  always  with  great  terror  to  the  British 
camp,  causing  a  general  apprehension  that  the  Americans 
were  advancing  to  attack  them  in  full  force. 

"After  midnight  the  skirmishers  would  return  to  their 
camp  and  resign  themselves  to  sleep,  using  for  their  beds 
brush  collected  from  the  swamp;  and  the  Tennesseans, 
who  were  encamped  on  the  extreme  left,  lying  on  gunwales 
or  logs  raised  a  few  inches  above  the  surface  of  the  water 
or  soft  mire  of  the  morass.  About  two  hours  after  day- 
break, a  general  stir  would  be  observable  in  the  American 
camp;  this  was  for  the  general  muster.  Drums  were  then 
beaten  and  several  bands  of  music,  among  which  that  of  the 
Orleans  battalion  (Planche's)  was  conspicuous,  would 
animate  the  spirits  of  the  men  with  martial  strains  that 
could  be  heard  in  the  desolate  and  gloomy  camp  of  the 
British,  where  no  melodious  notes  or  other  sounds  of  cheer- 
fulness were  allowed  to  mock  their  misery ;  where  not  even 
a  bugle  sounded,  unless  as  a  warning  or  a  summons  of  the 
guard  to  the  relief  of  some  threatened  outpost." 

During  these  three  days  Packenham  brought  up  thirty 
big  guns  from  the  fleet,  and  they  were  put  in  position. 
These  guns  were  moved  in  the  night,  and  on  the  last  night 
they  were  placed  so  as  to  be  seen  by  Jackson's  troops  next 


288  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

morning.  They  were  twenty  long  eigh teens  and  ten  twenty- 
fours.  The  "Subaltern"  says,  speaking  of  the  night  of 
the  3ist: 

"One-half  of  the  army  was  ordered  out  and  marched  to 
the  front,  passing  the  piquets,  and  halting  about  three  hun- 
dred yards  from  the  enemy's  line.  Here  it  was  resolved  to 
throw  up  a  chain  of  works,  and  here  the  greater  part  of  the 
detachment,  laying  down  their  firelocks,  applied  themselves 
vigorously  to  their  tasks,  while  the  rest  stood  armed  and 
prepared  for  their  defense.  The  night  was  dark  and  our 
people  maintained  a  profound  silence,  by  which  means  not 
an  idea  of  what  was  going  on  existed  in  the  American  camp. 
As  we  labored,  too,  with  all  diligence,  six  batteries  were 
completed  long  before  dawn,  in  which  were  mounted  thirty 
pieces  of  heavy  cannon;  when,  falling  back  a  little,  we 
united  ourselves  to  the  remainder  of  the  infantry  and  lay 
down  behind  the  rushes  in  readiness  to  act  as  soon  as  we 
should  be  wanted. 

"In  the  erection  of  these  batteries  a  circumstance  occurred 
worthy  of  notice  on  account  of  its  singularity.  I  have 
already  stated  that  the  whole  of  this  district  was  covered 
with  the  stubble  of  sugar  cane,  and  I  might  have  added 
that  every  storehouse  and  barn  attached  to  the  different 
mansions  scattered  over  it  was  filled  with  barrels  of  sugar. 
In  throwing  up  these  works,  the  sugar  was  used  instead  of 
earth.  Rolling  the  hogsheads  towards  the  front,  they  were 
placed  upright  in  the  parapets  of  the  batteries,  and  it  was 
computed  that  sugar  to  the  value  of  many  thousand  pounds 
sterling  was  thus  disposed  of." 

The  first  day  of  January,  1815,  is  a  memorable  day  in 
this  memorable  campaign.  The  battle  of  the  28th,  over- 
shadowed by  the  immortal  8th,  is  scarcely  known  to  the 
American  public,  but  it  was  a  great  victory  for  him  who 
said,  "Don't  be  alarmed;  if  the  British  get  into  New 
Orleans  it  will  be  over  my  dead  body."  Then  came  three 
days  of  waiting  —  with  Jackson's  army  waiting,  but  work- 
ing like  beavers.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  ist,  General 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  289 

Jackson  ordered  a  grand  review.  Up  to  half-past  nine  an 
immense  fog  obscured  the  armies  from  each  other.  This 
parade  was  in  full  view  of  the  British  army  when  the  fog 
arose.  The  "Subaltern"  says  : 

"When  the  fog  disappeared,  being  only  three  hundred 
yards  away,  we  could  perceive  all  that  was  going  on  with 
great  exactness.  The  different  regiments  were  on  parade, 
and,  being  dressed  in  holiday  suits,  presented  a  really  fine 
appearance.  Mounted  officers  were  riding  backwards  and 
forwards  through  the  ranks ;  bands  were  playing  and  colors 
floating  in  the  air;  in  a  word,  all  seemed  jollity  and  gala." 

As  the  fog  cleared  away,  Jackson's  army  saw  thirty 
pieces  of  artillery  only  three  hundred  yards  away,  all  in 
position  to  sweep  the  field.  At  a  signal  from  the  central 
battery,  the  whole  of  the  thirty  guns  opened  fire  full  upon 
the  American  lines.  This  produced  some  confusion;  but 
Jackson's  guns  were  also  in  position,  and,  Parton  says, 
Patterson's  guns  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  were  in  posi- 
tion to  do  service  in  the  coming  battle. 

Before  the  battle  commenced,  Jackson  walked  from  bat- 
tery to  battery,  his  men  everywhere  cheering  him.  Mr. 
Parton  says : 

"Vain  are  all  words  to  convey  to  the  unwarlike  reader  an 
idea  of  this  tremendous  scene.  Imagine  fifty  pieces  of 
cannon,  of  large  caliber,  each  discharged  from  once  to  thrice 
a  minute;  often  a  simultaneous  discharge  of  half-a-dozen 
pieces,  an  average  of  two  discharges  every  second;  while 
plain  and  river  were  so  densely  covered  with  smoke  that 
the  gunners  aimed  their  guns  from  recollection  chiefly,  and 
knew  scarcely  anything  of  the  effect  of  their  fire." 

When  the  firing  ceased  and  the  smoke  cleared  away  and 
the  British  position  was  disclosed,  the  British  batteries 
presented  formless  masses  of  soil  and  broken  guns.  The 
author  of  "Jackson  and  New  Orleans"  says : 


290  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

"Never  was  work  more  completely  done,  more  perfectly 
finished  and  rounded  off.  Earth  and  heavens  fairly  shook 
with  prolonged  shouts  of  the  Americans  over  this  spectacle. 
Still  the  remorseless  artillerists  would  not  cease  their  fire. 
The  British  infantry  would  now  and  then  raise  their  heads 
and  peep  forth  from  the  ditches  in  which  they  were  so 
ingloriously  ensconced.  The  level  plain  presented  but  a  few 
knolls  or  elevations  to  shelter  them,  and  the  American  artil- 
lerists were  as  skillful  as  riflemen  in  picking  off  those  who 
exposed  ever  so  small  a  portion  of  their  bodies.  Several 
extraordinary  examples  of  this  skill  were  communicated  to 
the  writer  by  a  British  officer  who  was  attached  to  Packen- 
ham's  army.  A  number  of  the  officers  of  the  Ninety-third, 
having  taken  refuge  in  a  shallow  hollow  behind  a  slight 
elevation,  it  was  proposed  that  the  only  married  officer  of 
the  party  should  lie  at  the  bottom,  it  being  deemed  the  safest 
place.  Lieutenant  Phaups  was  the  officer  indicated,  and 
laughingly  assumed  the  position  assigned  him.  This 
mound  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the  American  gunners, 
and  a  great  quantity  of  shot  was  thrown  at  it.  Lieutenant 
Phaups  could  not  resist  the  anxiety  to  see  what  was  going 
on  in  front,  and,  peeping  forth,  with  not  more  than  half  of 
his  head  exposed,  was  struck  by  a  twelve-pound  shot  and 
instantly  killed.  His  companions  buried  him  on  the  spot 
on  which  he  fell,  in  full  uniform.  Several  officers  and  men 
were  picked  off  in  a  similar  manner." 

The  "Subaltern"  says  of  this  battle : 

"Once  more  we  were  obliged  to  retire,  leaving  our  heavy 
guns  to  their  fate;  but  as  no  attempt  was  made  by  the 
Americans  to  secure  them,  some  of  our  soldiers  returned 
after  dark,  and  such  as  had  not  been  destroyed  were 
removed. 

"Of  the  fatigue  undergone  during  these  operations  by  the 
whole  army,  from  the  General  down  to  the  meanest  sentinel, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  form  an  adequate  conception.  For 
two  whole  nights  and  days  not  a  man  had  closed  an  eye, 
except  such  as  were  cool  enough  to  sleep  amidst  showers  of 
cannon  balls,  and  during  the  day  scarcely  a  moment  had 
been  allowed  in  which  we  were  able  so  much  as  to  break  our 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  291 

fast.  We  retired,  therefore,  not  only  baffled  and  disap- 
pointed, but,  in  some  degree,  disheartened  and  discontented. 
All  our  plans  had  as  yet  proved  abortive;  even  this,  upon 
which  so  much  reliance  had  been  placed,  was  found  to  be 
of  no  avail,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  something  like 
murmuring  began  to  be  heard  through  camp.  And,  in 
truth,  if  ever  any  army  might  be  permitted  to  murmur,  it 
was  this.  In  landing  they  had  borne  great  hardships,  not 
only  without  repining,  but  with  cheerfulness;  their  hopes 
had  been  excited  by  false  reports  as  to  the  practicability  of 
the  attempt  in  which  they  were  embarked;  and  now  they 
found  themselves  entangled  amidst  difficulties  from  which 
there  appeared  to  be  no  escape,  except  by  victory.  In  their 
attempts  upon  the  enemy's  line,  however,  they  had  been 
twice  foiled ;  in  artillery  they  perceived  themselves  to  be  so 
greatly  overmatched  that  their  own  could  hardly  assist 
them ;  their  provisions,  being  derived  wholly  from  the  fleet, 
were  both  scanty  and  coarse,  and  their  rest  was  continually 
broken.  For  not  only  did  the  cannon  and  mortars  from 
the  main  of  the  enemy's  position  play  unremittingly  upon 
them,  both  day  and  night,  but  they  were  likewise  exposed  to 
a  deadly  fire  from  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  where  no 
less  than  eighteen  pieces  of  artillery  were  now  mounted,  and 
swept  the  entire  line  of  our  encampment.  Besides  all  this, 
to  undertake  the  duty  of  a  picket  was  as  dangerous  as  to  go 
into  action.  Parties  of  American  sharpshooters  harassed 
and  disturbed  those  appointed  to  that  service  from  the  time 
they  took  possession  of  their  posts  until  they  were  relieved, 
whilst  to  light  fires  at  night  was  impossible,  because  they 
served  but  as  certain  marks  for  the  enemy's  gunners.  I 
repeat,  therefore,  that  a  little  murmuring  could  not  be  won- 
dered at." 

This  is  the  British  account  of  Jackson's  great  victory  of 
the  ist  of  January. 

The  period  of  Jackson's  life  from  the  time  he  entered 
New  Orleans,  on  the  2d  of  December,  1814,  until  he  fought 
the  battle  of  the  8th  of  January,  1815,  about  forty-three 
days,  has  been  generally  regarded  by  the  public  as  an  inter- 
regnum in  his  military  career. 


292  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Jackson's  genius  in  war  was  displayed  in  his  Natchez 
campaign,  in  the  Creek  War,  at  Mobile,  and  in  his  Pensacola 
campaign,  and  in  the  great  battle  of  the  8th.  Lord  Welling- 
ton said  his  Creek  Campaign  immortalized  him ;  but  in  the 
forty-three  days,  obscured,  almost  completely  overshadowed 
by  his  great  triumph  on  the  8th,  when  carefully  considered, 
will  be  found  his  transcendent  genius. 

The  final  great  battle  was  an  event  in  war  which  stands 
out  before  the  world  as  a  milestone  on  the  great  highway  of 
time,  to  be  seen  by  all  who  will  turn  and  look;  but  on  the 
part  of  the  Commanding  General  it  was  the  genius  of  one 
day,  one  great  act,  one  great  deed.  A  single  display  of 
genius  may  be  misleading ;  conditions  in  a  great  battle  may 
sometimes  turn  the  scale  without  genius.  But  there  can  be 
no  mistaking  the  genius  of  a  man  who  can  go  into  a  city  in 
the  throes  of  a  deadly  conflict,  subdue  the  hostile,  harmonize 
the  disaffected,  restrain  the  lawless,  give  confidence  to  the 
faltering,  quicken  the  step  of  friends,  and  convert  the  whole 
into  a  military  camp  in  a  few  days;  and  then  bring  an 
army,  improvised  by  himself,  without  help  from  his  Govern- 
ment; an  army  whose  inspiration  is  confidence — confidence 
in  the  one  single  man  who  leads  them ;  an  army  of  citizens, 
an  army  from  the  field  and  the  shop,  an  army  of  volunteers, 
an  army  whose  patriotism  is  quickened  by  the  genius  of  him 
who  calls  them. 

There  can  be  no  mistaking  the  genius  of  the  man  who 
can,  by  his  asking,  summon  such  an  army  from  his  own 
State,  his  fellow  citizens  —  men  who  are  citizens  and  not 
soldiers,  not  of  the  army,  not  inured  to  war;  citizens  who 
will  obey  his  call,  cross  a  wilderness  or  improvise  boats  and 
descend  a  river,  and  when  reaching  their  beloved  leader, 
half-clad  and  half-armed,  without  a  word,  on  an  hour's 
notice,  obey  his  commands,  attack  in  the  open  field  in  the 
night,  with  hunters'  guns  and  hunters'  knives,  an  army 
made  up  of  Wellington's  soldiers  of  double  their  number, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  293 

and  drive  it  into  hiding,  and  so  daze  it  as  to  be  able  to  build 
breastworks  before  he  recovers;  and  then  five  days  after 
renew  the  punishment,  and  three  days  after  increase  it  —  so 
crippling,  confounding,  and  discouraging  this  proud  army 
of  old  England  that  when  the  final  struggle  comes  it  is 
retreating  in  twenty-five  minutes  after  the  first  gun  is  fired 
—  an  army  whipped  before  the  great  battle  commences. 
There  is  no  debating  the  genius  of  such  a  man. 


294  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  FIRST  OF  JANUARY STILL  VICTORY 

A  TERRIBLE  WOUND  MAKES  LIFETIME  FRIENDS JACK- 

SON'S  TWO  "BACKDOWNS"  —  THE  KENTUCKY  TROOPS  — 

THE    ENEMY    REINFORCED JANUARY    7TH    ALL    DONE 

THAT    COULD    BE  J      JACKSON    READY    AND    COMPOSED 

THIS    GOVERNMENT    HAS    NEVER   LAID   A   SLAB    OVER    HIS 
GRAVE. 

A  PLEASING  incident,  illustrative  of  the  noble  and 
gentle  traits  of  humanity,  which  had  its  origin  in 
the  battle  of  the  ist  of  January,  may  serve  as  an 
agreeable  relief  to  the  narrative  of  deadly  conflicts  between 
hostile  armies,  which  the  chapters  I  am  now  writing  show. 
Among  the  loyal  citizens  of  New  Orleans  who  rallied  to 
the  support  of  Jackson  when  he  reached  the  city  were  two 
young  men,  Judah  Touro  and  Bezin  D.  Shepherd.  They 
were  marchants.  Mr.  Touro  had  come  from  Massachusetts, 
and  Mr.  Shepherd  from  Virginia.  They  enrolled  them- 
selves for  service  under  General  Jackson,  and  reported  for 
duty.  Mr.  Touro  was  attached  as  a  private  to  the  Louisiana 
Militia,  and  Mr.  Shepherd  to  Captain  Ogden's  horse  troop. 
Commodore  Patterson  asked  and  obtained  an  order  to  have 
Mr.  Shepherd  transferred  to  him,  and  made  him  one  of  his 
aides.  During  the  terrible  cannonade  of  the  ist  of  January, 
and  when  even  the  bravest  accepted  shelter  from  flying 
missiles,  Mr.  Touro  volunteered  his  services  to  carry  shot 
and  shell  from  the  magazine  to  Humphrey's  Battery,  and 
while  the  missiles  flew  around  him  he  fearlessly  performed 
the  dangerous  work  he  had  chosen.  In  the  course  of  the 
day  he  was  struck  on  the  thigh  by  a  twelve-pound  shot, 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  295 

inflicting  a  ghastly  wound,  which  tore  off  a  large  portion  of 
the  flesh. 

About  this  time  Commodore  Patterson  sent  his  aide, 
Shepherd,  with  special  orders  across  the  river  to  the  main 
army ;  and  on  reaching  the  bank  he  met  a  friend,  who  told 
him  his  friend  Touro  was  dead.  Inquiring  where  he  was, 
Shepherd  was  informed  that  he  had  been  taken  to  an  old 
building  in  the  rear  of  Jackson's  headquarters.  Forgetting 
his  orders,  Mr.  Shepherd  went  immediately  to  the  place  and 
found  he  was  not  dead,  but,  as  the  surgeon  said,  in  a  dying 
condition.  Disregarding  what  the  surgeon  said,  Shepherd 
got  a  cart,  put  him  in  it,  administered  stimulants,  and  took 
him  to  his  own  house.  He  then  procured  nurses,  and  by 
the  closest  attention  Mr.  Touro's  life  was  saved.  Mr. 
Shepherd  returned  late  in  the  day,  having  performed  his 
mission,  to  find  Commodore  Patterson  in  a  bad  humor,  and, 
speaking  severely  to  him,  the  latter  said :  "Commodore,  you 
can  hang  or  shoot  me,  and  it  will  be  all  right ;  but  my  best 
friend  needed  my  assistance,  and  nothing  on  earth  could 
have  induced  me  to  neglect  him." 

Hearing  all,  the  Commodore  was  reconciled. 

These  men  both  became  millionaires  and  both  lived  into 
old  age.  Mr.  Touro  was  always  known  as  "the  Israelite 
without  guile."  He  died  in  1854,  leaving  an  immense 
estate,  giving  one-half  of  it  to  charities  —  charities  selected 
with  great  discrimination  —  and  the  entire  other  half  he 
gave  to  the  man  who  had  saved  his  life.  Mr.  Shepherd 
appropriated  almost  the  entire  half  given  to  him  in  improv- 
ing and  beautifying  the  street  on  which  they  had  both  lived, 
and  it  is,  and  long  has  been,  known  as  "Touro  Street  the 
Beautiful." 

After  the  battle  of  the  i  st  of  January,  which  was  Sunday, 
Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday,  and  Thursday  were  days  of 
intense  anxiety;  there  was  no  sign  of  the  British  army 
moving,  and  the  question  with  General  Jackson  was  (he 


296  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

having  driven  the  enemy  under  the  hill  in  the  night  battle 
of  the  23d,  and  then  driven  him  from  the  line  of  defense  on 
the  28th  and  on  the  ist  of  January,  both  times  with  great 
loss),  What  will  he  do?  Will  the  general  in  command 
make  another  attack  on  the  line,  or  seek  some  other  mode 
of  getting  into  the  city? 

It  was  known  to  General  Jackson  that  about  this  time  the 
British  army  was  reinforced  with  1,700  men,  under  Major 
General  Lambert.  On  the  4th,  the  long-looked-for  Ken- 
tucky troops,  2,300,  under  General  Thomas  and  General 
Adair,  arrived.  General  Jackson  had  counted  much  on  the 
Kentucky  troops.  His  old  friend,  Isaac  Shelby,  who  was 
Governor  at  the  time,  was  himself  a  great  soldier,  and 
thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  Jackson  in  the  great  struggle 
by  which  he  was  hoping  to  save  the  Southwest  from  inva- 
sion and  subjugation;  but  it  was  published  that  Kentucky, 
as  a  State,  had  men  ready  to  fight,  but  no  resources  to  arm 
and  equip  them,  and  what  was  done  was  by  private  subscrip- 
tion. In  the  long  march  which  these  troops  had  made 
without  winter  clothing,  with  much  bad  weather,  and 
greatly  distressed  for  a  supply  of  food  until  they  captured 
a  boat-load  of  flour,  they  reached  New  Orleans  in  a  deplor- 
able condition.  All  the  biographers  of  General  Jackson,  as 
well  as  the  author  of  "Jackson  and  New  Orleans,"  describe 
them  as  destitution  itself.  One  of  them  says  they  were 
without  the  means  of  cooking  their  food,  as  they  had  only 
one  small  cooking  vessel  to  every  eighty  men. 

Mr.  Parton  says: 

"On  Wednesday  morning,  January  4,  the  long-looked-for 
Kentuckians,  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  in 
number,  reached  New  Orleans.  Seldom  has  a  reinforce- 
ment been  so  anxiously  expected ;  never  did  the  arrival  of 
one  create  keener  disappointment.  They  were  so  ragged 
that  the  men,  as  they  marched  shivering  through  the  streets, 
were  observed  to  hold  together  their  garments  with  their 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  297 

hands  to  cover  their  nakedness;  and  what  was  worse, 
because  beyond  remedy,  not  one  man  in  ten  was  well  armed, 
and  only  one  man  in  three  had  any  arms  at  all.  It  was  a 
bitter  moment  for  General  Jackson  when  he  heard  this; 
and  it  was  a  bitter  thing  for  those  brave  and  devoted  men, 
who  had  formerly  hoped  to  find  in  the  abundance  of  New 
Orleans  an  end  of  their  exposure  and  destitution,  to  learn 
that  the  General  had  not  a  musket,  a  blanket,  a  tent,  a  gar- 
ment, a  rag,  to  give  them.  A  body  of  Louisiana  Militia, 
too,  who  had  arrived  a  day  or  two  before  from  Baton 
Rouge,  were  in  a  condition  only  less  deplorable.  Here  was 
a  force  of  nearly  three  thousand  men,  every  man  of  whom 
was  pressingly  wanted,  paralyzed  and  useless  for  want  of 
those  arms  that  had  been  sent  on  their  way  down  the  river 
sixty  days  before.  It  would  have  fared  ill  with  the  captain 
of  that  loitering  boat  if  he  had  chanced  to  arrive  just  them, 
for  the  General  was  wroth  exceedingly.  Up  the  river  go 
new  expresses  to  bring  him  down  in  irons.  They  bring 
him  at  last,  the  astonished  man,  but  days  and  days  too  late ; 
the  war  was  over.  The  old  soldiers  of  this  campaign 
mention  that  the  General's  observations  upon  the  character 
of  the  hopeless  captain,  his  parentage,  and  upon  various 
portions  of  his  mortal  and  immortal  frame,  were  much  too 
forcible  for  repetition  in  these  piping  times  of  peace." 

Never  did  women  work  more  untiringly  than  did  the 
ladies  of  New  Orleans  work  to  make  some  clothing  for 
these  almost  clothless  soldiers;  but  the  guns  were  lacking, 
and  could  not  be  had.  These  men  had  never  had  one  day 
of  drilling;  they  were  totally  without  experience  in  war. 
No  proper  defense  has  been  made  for  what  took  place  on 
the  8th,  and  which  led  to  General  Jackson's  hasty  report  to 
the  President  on  the  gth,  saying  the  "Kentuckians  inglo- 
riously  fled."  In  an  order  issued  and  read  to  the  army  next 
day,  General  Jackson  qualifies  his  report  and  gives  the  Ken- 
tuckians credit  for  being  brave  soldiers.  This  is  about  the 
only  thing  General  Jackson  ever  took  back. 


298  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

In  one  of  the  following  chapters  on  the  great  battle  the 
facts  will  be  given,  because  it  is  due  to  the  history  of  this 
great  State,  and  of  the  Kentuckian  from  the  time  Boone 
went  there  down  to  the  present  time,  to  say  that  there  is  one 
thing  that  he  does  know  how  to  do  —  that  is,  fight;  and 
while  like  other  men  he  may  have  man's  ordinary  weak- 
nesses, there  is  one  infirmity  he  is  free  from  —  he  is  not  a 
coward. 

While  it  is  true,  as  far  as  I  know,  that  General  Jackson 
never  took  back  anything  he  said,  except  his  words  in  his 
report  to  the  President  that  the  Kentuckians  in  the  great 
battle  of  the  8th  "ingloriously  fled,"  it  is  true  that  on  one 
occasion  he  did  back  down.  "Back  down"  is  a  very  hard 
saying  to  apply  to  "Old  Hickory,"  but  he  did.  Among  the 
many  good  anecdotes  in  the  life  of  the  great  hero,  all  of 
which  I  have  omitted  so  far  in  these  articles,  there  is  none 
probably  better  than  the  "back  down"  anecdote,  and  it  may 
be  a  relief  from  the  scenes  of  war  to  tell  it. 

General  Jackson  probably  had  more  friends  that  he  would 
fight  for  and  who  would  fight  for  him  than  any  man  known 
to  the  American  people;  it  is  also  true  that  he  had  his  ene- 
mies, and  about  as  large  a  crop  as  any  other  public  man. 
Among  his  thousands  and  thousands  of  friends,  any  one  of 
whom  he  would  have  fought  for,  he  had  some  special  friends 
who  were  dearer  to  him  than  life.  Among  these  were 
Coffee,  Carroll,  Gordon,  and  William  P.  Anderson.  The 
first  three  had  been  drawn  to  him  as  officers  under  him  in 
the  Creek  War  and  at  New  Orleans  in  their  devotion  to 
him  and  their  gallantry  in  war.  The  fourth,  Col.  William  P. 
Anderson,  a  business  man  of  high  character  and  great  influ- 
ence in  Tennessee  in  its  early  history,  had  long  been  the 
business  partner  of  Jackson  in  locating  and  perfecting  titles 
to  land,  and  Jackson  had  great  respect  for  him  —  indeed, 
was  much  attached  to  him ;  but,  like  Jackson,  Anderson  had 
his  enemies. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  299 

One  day  after  the  wars  were  over,  down  at  the  old  Inn  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Square,  where  Jackson  and  his  com- 
rades were  wont  to  meet  and  talk  over  the  past,  Jackson 
heard  a  man,  whom  he  did  not  know,  abusing  Colonel 
Anderson  —  saying  very  hard  things  about  him,  going  into 
detail,  making  out  quite  a  bill  of  particulars.  After  listen- 
ing to  him,  Jackson  went  off  and  wrote  down  what  he  said 
about  Anderson,  reciting  the  several  charges  made,  and  then 
went  to  the  man  and  said  to  him :  "Sir,  I  don't  know  you, 
but  I  listened  to  what  you  said  about  my  friend,  Colonel 
Anderson,  and  I  have  written  it  down ;  and,  sir,  I  want  you 
to  sign  it,  so  there  will  be  no  mistake  about  it."  The 
accuser  happened  to  be  one  who  had  some  idea  of  his  rights, 
and  promptly  replied :  "Sir,  what  I  said  I  said,  and  I  shall 
stand  by  it;  but  I  am  not  going  to  sign  any  papers." 

Whereupon  General  Jackson  turned  to  his  friend,  Col. 
Thomas  Kennedy  Gordon,  who  was  sitting  in  the  room 
(Gordon  was  the  man  who,  in  the  Creek  War,  when  the 
mutiny  took  place  and  when  Jackson  said,  "If  only  two  men 
will  stay  with  me,  I  will  stay  here  and  die  in  the  wilderness," 
stepped  out  and  said,  "General,  I  will  stay  with  you"),  and 
said :  "That  man  over  there  said  some  hard  things  in  the 
company  of  gentlemen  about  my  old  friend,  Col.  William  P. 
Anderson ;  and  I  wrote  down  what  he  said  and  asked  him 
to  sign  it,  and  he  refuses  to  do  it;  and  I  have  come  to  ask 
what  I  shall  do  about  it."  It  was  handed  to  Gordon,  and 
he  read  it  carefully  and  said,  "And  you  say,  General,  he 
won't  sign  it."  "No,"  said  the  irate  General,  "he  positively 
refuses  to  sign  it,  and  I  come  for  your  advice."  Gordon 
again  carefully  read  the  paper,  and  repeated  his  surprise 
that  the  man  refused  to  sign  it,  but  said,  "General,  I  don't 
care  to  shoulder  that  fellow's  responsibility,  but  this  paper 
has  got  so  much  truth  in  it  that  somebody  ought  to  sign  it, 
and  I  will  just  sign  it  myself."  The  curtain  fell  and  Jack- 
son retired,  but  the  same  everlasting  friend  of  Gordon. 


300  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

The  days  of  waiting  between  the  battle  of  the  ist  and  8th 
of  January  were  days  of  intense  anxiety  with  General 
Jackson.  The  new  troops  from  Kentucky  could  be  of  little 
or  no  service  to  him,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  enemy 
had  been  reinforced  by  1,700  soldiers,  under  Major  General 
Lambert,  all  of  whom  had  seen  service.  Old  guns,  gathered 
up,  were  being  repaired  as  fast  as  possible,  but  this 
amounted  to  but  little,  for,  including  the  Kentuckians  and 
the  Louisiana  Militia  just  arrived,  Jackson  had  nearly  three 
thousand  men  who  could  be  of  no  service,  as  his  report  to 
the  Secretary  of  War  shows. 

The  arrival  of  Major  General  Lambert,  with  1,700  men, 
revived  the  spirits  of  the  British  army.  What  General 
Packenham  was  going  to  do  was  the  question.  Five  days 
after  the  battle  of  the  ist,  Jackson  became  satisfied  General 
Packenham  was  going  to  renew  the  attack  on  his  lines. 
Having  been  beaten  in  the  open  field  and  repulsed  and  driven 
back  in  two  general  assaults  on  his  lines,  Jackson  was  in 
doubt  up  to  that  time  whether  it  would  be  a  renewal  or  an 
attempted  flank  movement,  getting  in  his  rear.  During 
these  days,  using  some  of  his  best  men,  he  was  making 
observations,  which,  on  the  6th,  satisfied  him  a  renewal  of 
the  attack  on  his  lines  was  to  be  made.  Though  in  doubt, 
there  had  been  no  let  up  in  the  work  of  strengthening  his 
fortifications  and  putting  his  guns  in  position.  It  was  said 
his  pale  face  lighted  up  when  his  trusted  reconnoiterers 
brought  the  unmistakable  evidence  of  an  immediate  attack. 
This  was  what  he  desired. 

The  new  scheme  of  General  Packenham,  as  the  "Sub- 
altern" in  his  final  report  says,  "was  worthy,  for  its  bold- 
ness, of  the  school  in  which  Sir  Edward  had  studied  his 
profession.  It  was  determined  to  divide  the  army  —  to 
send  part  across  the  river,  who  would  seize  the  enemy's 
guns  and  turn  them  on  themselves,  whilst  the  remainder 
should  at  the  same  time  make  a  general  assault  along  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  301 

whole  entrenchment.  But  before  his  plan  could  be  put  into 
execution  it  would  be  necessary  to  cut  a  canal  across  the 
entire  neck  of  land  from  the  Bayou  de  Catiline  to  the  river, 
of  sufficient  width  and  depth  to  admit  of  boats  being 
brought  up  from  the  lake.  Upon  this  arduous  undertaking 
were  the  troops  immediately  employed.  Being  divided  into 
four  companies,  they  labored  by  turns,  day  and  night;  one 
party  relieving  another  after  a  stated  number  of  hours,  in 
such  order  as  that  the  work  should  never  be  entirely  deserted. 
The  fatigue  undergone  during  the  prosecution  of  this 
attempt  no  words  can  sufficiently  describe;  yet  it  was  pur- 
sued without  repining,  and,  at  length,  by  unremitting  exer- 
tions, they  succeeded  in  effecting  their  purpose  by  the  6th 
of  January." 

Saturday,  the  7th  of  January,  was,  in  one  sense,  a  quiet 
day  with  General  Jackson.  All  that  could  be  done  had  been 
done,  and  late  in  the  evening  he  asked  his  old  friend,  General 
Adair,  who  had  arrived  only  three  days  before,  to  go  with 
him  and  look  at  the  fortifications.  Mr.  Parton  says  that 
General  Adair,  after  looking  at  the  long  line  of  hastily  con- 
structed and  irregular  fortifications,  had  no  great  opinion 
of  Jackson's  generalship,  as  he  afterwards  expressed  himself. 

These  fortifications,  it  will  be  remembered,  including  the 
ditch  and  the  embankment,  had  all  been  made  in  fourteen 
days,  fighting  three  battles  while  doing  it,  besides  carrying 
on  an  irregular  warfare  every  night.  After  going  from 
battery  to  battery,  General  Jackson  asked  General  Adair 
what  he  thought  of  the  situation.  General  Adair  said : 

"There  is  one  way,  and  but  one  way,  in  which  we  can 
hope  to  defend  them.  We  must  have  a  strong  corps  of 
reserve  to  meet  the  enemy's  main  attack,  wherever  it  may 
be.  No  single  part  of  the  lines  is  strong  enough  to  resist 
the  united  force  of  the  enemy.  But,  with  a  strong  column 
held  in  our  rear,  ready  to  advance  upon  any  threatened 
point,  we  can  beat  them  off." 


302  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"During  the  2d  and  3d,"  wrote  Commodore  Patterson  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  "I  landed  from  the  ship  and 
mounted,  as  the  former  ones,  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  four 
more  twelve-pounders,  and  erecting  a  furnace  for  heating 
shot,  to  destroy  a  number  of  buildings  which  intervened 
between  General  Jackson's  lines  and  the  camp  of  the  enemy 
and  occupied  by  him.  On  the  evening  of  the  4th  I  suc- 
ceeded in  firing  a  number  of  them  and  some  rice  stacks  by 
my  shot,  which  the  enemy  attempted  to  extinguish,  notwith- 
standing the  heavy  fire  which  I  kept  up,  but  which  at  length 
compelled  them  to  desist.  On  the  6th  and  7th  I  erected 
another  furnace  and  mounted  on  the  banks  of  the  river  two 
more  twenty-pounders,  which  had  been  brought  up  by  the 
exertions  of  Colonel  Caldwell,  of  the  drafted  militia  of  the 
State,  and  brought  within  and  mounted  on  the  intrench- 
ments  on  this  side  of  the  river  one  twelve-pounder,  in  addi- 
tion to  which  General  Morgan,  commanding  the  militia  on 
this  side,  planted  two  brass  six-pound  field  pieces  in  his  lines, 
which  were  incomplete,  having  been  commenced  only  on 
the  4th.  These  three  pieces  were  the  only  cannon  on  the 
firing  lines.  All  the  others  being  mounted  on  the  bank  of 
the  river,  with  a  view  to  aid  the  right  of  General  Jackson's 
lines  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  to  flank  the  enemy  should 
they  attempt  to  march  up  the  road  leading  along  the  levee, 
or  erect  batteries  on  the  same,  of  course  could  render  no  aid 
in  defense  of  General  Morgan's  lines.  My  battery  was 
manned  in  part  from  the  crew  of  the  ship,  and  in  part  by 
militia  detailed  for  that  service  by  General  Morgan,  as  I  had 
not  seamen  enough  to  fully  man  them." 

That  General  Jackson,  cool  as  he  was  on  the  evening  of 
the  7th,  was  a  most  determined  man,  and  with  the  coolest 
desperation  had  made  up  his  mind  that  the  morrow  must 
bring  victory  or  the  sacrifice  of  himself  and  his  army  in  the 
struggle. 

The  manner  in  which  the  war  had  been  conducted  by  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  303 

British  armies  in  the  North  —  the  vandalism  in  burning  the 
public  buildings  at  Washington,  the  murder  of  prisoners  at 
Frenchtown,  the  savage-like  exhibitions  of  licentious  brutal- 
ity of  the  soldiers  at  some  of  the  towns  where  they  entered 
in  the  campaign  of  1813-14,  had  filled  the  coolest  head  in 
America  with  a  zeal  that  was  as  resistless  as  a  forest  fire, 
and  Jackson  on  the  night  of  the  7th,  cool  as  he  seemed, 
"meant  victory  or  death"  in  a  sense  that  was  neither  fiction 
nor  poetry. 

That  Jackson  knew  from  prisoners  captured,  papers 
found  on  them,  of  the  countersign  given  to  the  soldiers  by 
General  Packenham,  may  not  be  sufficiently  established; 
but  he  did  know  what  had  been  done  in  other  cities  in  the 
North  where  the  army  was  displaying  its  savage  traits  with 
a  licensed  freedom  not  known  among  the  civilized  nations 
of  Europe.  But  Mr.  Reid,  who  was  in  Jackson's  army  and 
one  of  his  aides,  and  Mr.  Eaton,  who  wrote  a  life  of  Jackson 
in  1817,  and  Mr.  Waldo,  who  wrote  his  life  in  1818,  took 
pains  to  get  up  the  proof  on  this  national  shame.  In  the 
"Life  of  Jackson"  by  Eaton  and  Reid,  they  say : 

"Inducements  were  held  out,  than  which  nothing  more 
inviting  could  be  offered  to  an  infuriated  soldiery.  Let  it 
be  remembered  of  that  gallant  but  misguided  General,  who 
has  been  so  much  deplored  by  the  British  nation,  that  to  the 
cupidity  of  his  soldier  he  promised  the  wealth  of  the  city 
as  a  recompense  for  their  gallantry  and  desperation ;  while, 
with  brutal  licentiousness,  they  were  to  revel  in  lawless 
indulgence,  and  triumph  uncontrolled,  over  female  inno- 
cence. Scenes  like  these  our  nation,  dishonored  and 
insulted,  had  already  witnessed;  she  had  witnessed  them  at 
Hampton  and  Havre-de-Grace ;  but  it  was  reserved  for  her 
yet  to  learn  that  an  officer  of  high  standing,  polished,  gen- 
erous and  brave,  should  induce  his  soldiers  to  acts  of  daring 
valor  —  permit  them,  as  a  reward,  to  insult,  injure,  and 
debase  those  whom  all  mankind,  even  savages,  reverence 
and  respect.  The  history  of  Europe,  since  civilized  warfare 


304  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

began,  is  challenged  to  afford  an  instance  of  such  gross 
depravity  —  such  wanton  outrage  on  the  morals  and  dignity 
of  society.  English  writers  may  deny  the  correctness  of 
the  charge  —  it  certainly  interests  them  to  do  so  —  but  its 
authenticity  is  too  well  established  to  admit  of  doubt,  while 
its  criminality  is  increased  from  being  the  act  of  a  people 
who  hold  themselves  up  to  surrounding  nations  as  examples 
of  everything  that  is  correct  and  proper. 

"The  events  of  this  day  afford  abundant  evidence  of  the 
liberality  of  the  American  soldiers,  and  show  a  striking 
difference  in  the  troops  of  the  two  nations.  While  one  were 
allured  to  acts  of  bravery  and  duty  by  the  promised  pillage 
and  plunder  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  commission  of 
crimes  abhorrent  in  the  sight  of  earth  and  heaven,  the  other 
fought  but  for  his  country,  and,  having  repelled  her  assail- 
ants, instantly  forgot  all  enmity,  viewed  his  fallen  foe  as  a 
brother,  and  hastened  to  assist  him,  even  at  the  hazard  of 
his  own  life." 

And  Mr.  Waldo,  in  his  "Life  of  Jackson,"  speaking  of 
the  1,500  dead  and  dying  British  piled  up  on  the  field  after 
the  battle  of  the  8th,  says : 

"Humanity  must  weep  over  such  a  scene;  and  in  the 
death  and  anguish  of  the  comparatively  innocent  soldiers  of 
England,  for  a  season  forget  the  wicked  cause  in  which  they 
fell  —  the  cause  of  tyranny  against  freedom.  Even  the 
patriotic  soldiers  of  our  beloved  republic,  in  beholding  the 
banks  of  the  majestic  Mississippi  converted  into  an  out- 
spread sepulcher  for  veteran  foemen,  who  had  one  common 
origin  with  themselves,  must  have  dropped  a  manly  tear. 
But  how  soon  will  reflection  compel  them  to  pour  forth  the 
most  indignant  imprecations  against  the  British  Govern- 
ment, whose  systematic  injustice  first  occasioned  the  war, 
and  against  the  British  officers,  whose  vandalism  and  bar- 
barity even  charity  itself  can  never  forgive.  It  must  crim- 
son with  a  blush  every  Englishman,  who  reads  the  history 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  he  finds  it  recorded  that  an 
officer,  the  pride  of  England,  confident  of  capturing  one  of 
the  finest  cities  in  America,  gave  as  a  countersign,  upon  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  305 

day  his  army  was  to  enter  it,  'Booty  and  Beauty.'  The 
hard  earnings  of  patient  industry  were  to  be  ravished  from 
the  defenseless  citizens,  and  their  wives  and  daughters  to  be 
subjected  to  the  diabolical  lust  of  a  full-gorged  soldiery. 
The  innocent  and  accomplished  females  of  New  Orleans, 
who  had  spent  days  of  labor  and  nights  of  watchfulness  in 
alleviating  the  toils  of  their  valiant  countrymen  while  sta- 
tioned under  the  banners  of  the  republic,  were  to  suffer 
more  than  ten  thousand  deaths  could  inflict  before  the  very 
eyes  of  those  who  had  blessed  them  for  their  bounty,  but 
who  could  no  longer  extend  to  them  protection.  Well  may 
the  English  reader  exclaim  with  an  ancient  poet,  'Quis 
temper et  a  lachrivmis,  talia  fando'  ('who  can  refrain  from 
tears  in  relating  such  deeds') ;  and  well  may  the  patriotic 
sons  of  Columbia,  when  thinking  of  their  implacable  enemy, 
resolve  to  be : 

Tire  to  fire,  flint  to  flint,  and  to  outface 
The  brow  of  bragging  horror.'  " 

English  writers,  without  evidence,  have  denied  the 
charges  here  made,  but  they  were  established ;  the  counter- 
sign —  the  crying  shame  of  a  great  nation  —  was  found  in 
the  pockets  of  dead  soldiers  after  the  battle  of  the  8th  of 
January. 

Who  saved  New  Orleans  from  the  awful  scene  that 
awaited  a  triumph  over  Jackson?  It  was  the  immortal 
hero  and  his  Tennesseans,  the  men  who  came  at  his  bidding. 

There  is  no  reflection  on  other  soldiers  in  this  great 
struggle.  All  did  their  duty,  but  the  facts  show  that 
Jackson  was  literally  without  an  army  until  the  Tennesseans 
got  there.  I  beg  to  say,  and  I  would  write  it  in  letters, 
were  it  in  my  power,  that  would  live  as  long  as  the  name 
of  Tennessee  is  spoken,  that  Tennesseans  won  this  unprece- 
dented victory.  That  the  reader  may  see  the  Tennessean 
as  he  appeared,  and  as  he  was,  in  the  second  great  struggle 
for  American  freedom,  I  give  here  a  description  of  Coffee's 
command,  as  the  author  of  "Jaclcson  and  New  Orleans" 


306  LIFE  AND   TIMES   OF 

saw  it.      It  would  answer  as  well  for  Carroll's  command; 
in  fact,  for  the  whole  5,300  independent  volunteer  fighters : 

"Coffee,"  says  this  graphic  writer,  "was  a  man  of  noble 
aspect,  tall  and  herculean  in  frame,  yet  not  destitute  of  a 
certain  natural  dignity  and  ease  of  manner.  Though  of 
great  height  and  weight,  his  appearance  on  horseback, 
mounted  on  a  fine  Tennessee  thoroughbred,  was  striking 
and  impressive.  His  soldiers,  who  had  been  hardened  by 
long  service,  possessed  remarkable  endurance,  and  that 
useful  quality  of  soldiers  of  taking  care  of  themselves  in  an 
emergency.  They  were  all  practiced  marksmen,  who 
thought  nothing  of  bringing  down  a  squirrel  from  the  top 
of  the  loftiest  tree  with  their  rifles.  Their  appearance, 
however,  was  not  very  military  in  their  woolen  hunting 
shirts  of  dark  or  dingy  color,  and  copperas-dyed  pantaloons, 
made,  both  cloth  and  garments,  at  home  by  their  wives, 
mothers,  and  sisters ;  with  slouching  wool  hats,  some  com- 
posed of  the  skins  of  foxes  and  raccoons,  the  spoils  of  the 
chase,  to  which  they  were  addicted  almost  from  infancy; 
with  belts  of  untanned  deerskin,  in  which  were  stuck  hunt- 
ing knives  and  tomahawks;  with  their  long,  unkempt  hair 
and  unshorn  faces,  Coffee's  men  were  not  calculated  to 
please  the  eyes  of  the  martinet,  of  one  accustomed  to  regard 
neatness  and  primness  as  essential  virtues  of  the  good 
soldier.  The  British  were  not  far  wrong  when  they  spoke 
of  them  as  a  posse  comitatus,  wearing  broad  beavers,  armed 
with  long  duck  guns.  But  the  sagacious  judge  of  human 
nature  could  not  fail  to  perceive  beneath  their  rude  exterior 
those  qualities  which,  in  defensive  warfare  at  least,  are  far 
more  formidable  than  the  practiced  skill  and  discipline  of 
regulars." 

These  brave  Tennesseans,  in  the  estimation  of  New 
Orleans,  were  something  more  than  a  posse  comitatus  after 
they  saved  that  grand  city.  Clinton  Ross,  in  Chalmette, 
says  a  British  officer,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  and  was 
using  his  tongue  freely  in  a  smart  way,  sending  his  compli- 
ments to  General  Jackson  in  reference  to  taking  care  of  his 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  307 

baggage  for  a  few  days,  evidently  was  not  pleased  with  the 
looks  of  the  "comitatus"  crowd,  when  Mademoiselle  de 
Renior  said  to  him :  "I'd  rather  be  the  wife  of  a  Tennessean, 
roughly  clad  as  he  is,  than  a  countess."  And  the  author 
says  her  eyes  flashed  finely  as  she  delivered  that  tribute  to 
the  good  fighters  who  had  marched  fifteen  hundred  miles  to 
be  with  Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 

If  ever  a  chastisement  of  a  proud  nation  came  in  time,  it 
is  to  be  found  in  "Jaclcson  Day"  at  New  Orleans  —  a  nation 
that  measures  the  rights  of  other  peoples  by  the  number  of 
great  ships  and  big  guns  they  can  bring  to  their  defense. 
And  if  ever  a  country  needed  a  living  witness  of  the  abiding 
martial  spirit  in  the  people,  it  was  when  Jackson  at  New 
Orleans  met  the  criminals  from  Frenchtown,  Hampton  and 
Havre-de-Grace,  and  from  the  vandalism  at  Washington. 
Will  not  Tennessee  build  a  monument  to  Jackson  and  his 
brave  soldiers? 

The  descendants  of  a  race  of  men,  whose  deeds  of  valor 
and  intellectual  prowess  put  them  at  the  very  front,  we  must 
be  painfully  conscious  of  our  indifference  to  their  memories. 
Jackson's  tomb  is  in  decay.  A  few  noble  women  are  trying 
to  rescue  it,  working  with  but  little  support  to  preserve  and 
perpetuate  the  reputation  of  the  living,  for  Jackson  is 
immortal.  While  Packenham,  the  vanquished,  whose  life- 
less body  Jackson  sent  back  to  St.  Paul,  is  made  the  subject 
of  England's  greatest  appreciation  of  public  services  by  a 
work  of  art  for  all  England  to  see,  Jackson,  the  victor,  who 
with  raw  troops  freed  his  country  of  an  invading  army, 
which  afterward,  under  Wellington  at  Waterloo,  conquered 
the  world's  conqueror,  is  by  the  Government  for  which  he 
did  so  much  left,  so  far  as  it  is  concerned,  without  a  stone  to 
mark  his  resting  place.  And  his  own  State,  whose  very 
name  he  immortalized,  niggardly  commits  his  memory  to  a 
few  loving  women,  who,  like  the  women  after  the  cruci- 
fixion, in  sadness  and  sorrow,  looked  after  the  body,  are 


308  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

doing  what  they  can  to  rescue  the  tomb  of  Tennessee's 
immortal  hero. 

To  Jackson  and  his  heroes  Tennessee  must  some  day 
erect  a  monument  that  will  silently  tell  the  story  of  heroism 
as  long  as  children  shall  stop  to  look. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  309 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

THE    PRESENT    GENERATION    KNOWS    BUT    LITTLE    OF    THE 

WAR    OF    l8l2 PARTON    ON    THE   FIRST   THIRTY-SEVEN 

DAYS    OF    l8l5 THE    TRUTH    TOLD    AND    PARTON    HAS 

CREDIT THE    AWFUL    SUSPENSE    AT    WASHINGTON 

JACKSON   AND   THE   HALL  OF   FAME. 

MEN  of  the  present  generation,  as  a  rule,  do  not 
know  the  history  of  the  War  of  1812.  They  do 
not  know  that  one  man  from  the  Southwest,  by 
one  speech  in  Congress,  brought  on  the  war  as  the  only 
relief  from  national  humiliation  and  disgrace  by  the  bullying 
spirit  of  both  England  and  Frence;  one  wanting  to  fight 
Cornwallis'  defeat  over,  and  the  other  mad  because  we  did 
not  become  its  ally  in  the  war  with  England.  As  a  rule, 
they  do  not  know  that  Jackson,  with  an  army  of  Tennes- 
seans,  raised  by  himself,  armed  and  equipped  and  paid  by 
the  State  of  Tennessee,  by  conquering  England's  ally  in  the 
Southwest  —  the  Creek  Nation  —  made  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
possible.  As  a  rule,  they  know  that  Jackson,  with  Tennes- 
seans  mainly,  whipped  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  but  they 
do  not  know  the  genius,  the  unequaled  genius,  displayed  in 
preparing  for  that  battle,  and  especially  in  demoralizing  the 
British  army  before  the  final  issue  came.  With  the  purpose 
of  showing  the  scope  of  the  great  victory  and  its  effect  upon 
the  entire  nation,  I  make  here  an  extended  quotation  from 
Mr.  Parton's  "Life  of  Jackson."  This  is  the  sketch : 

"If  an  old  man  of  perfect  memory  were  asked  to  name 
the  time  when  the  prospects  of  the  Republic  were  shrouded 
in  the  deepest  gloom,  and  the  largest  number  of  people 
despaired  of  its  future,  his  answer,  I  think,  would  be :  'The 


310  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

first  thirty-seven  days  of  the  year  1815.'  It  was  the  dead 
of  winter.  Whatever  evils  the  war  had  brought  on  the 
country  were  then  most  acutely  and  most  generally  felt. 
The  Capitol  of  the  nation  was  in  ruins.  Congress  was  as 
factious,  ill-tempered,  and  unmanageable  as  parliamentary 
bodies  invariably  are  when  there  is  most  need  of  united  and 
efficient  action.  The  twenty-six  staid  and  respectable  old 
gentlemen,  styled  the  'Hartford  Convention,'  had  recently 
met,  and  the  Administration  papers  were  denouncing  them 
as  traitors,  and  filling  the  country  with  the  wildest  misrep- 
resentations of  their  character  and  designs.  And  it  must 
be  owned  that  the  tone  of  the  New  England  press  was  such 
as  almost  to  justify  such  misrepresentations.  'Is  there,' 
said  the  Boston  Gazette,  'a  Federalist,  a  patriot  in  America, 
who  conceives  it  his  duty  to  shed  his  blood  for  Bonaparte, 
for  Madison  and  Jefferson,  and  that  host  of  ruffians  in  Con- 
gress who  have  set  their  faces  against  us  for  years,  and 
spirited  up  the  brutal  part  of  the  populace  to  destroy  us? 
Not  one.  Shall  we,  then,  any  longer  be  held  in  slavery  and 
driven  to  desperate  poverty  by  such  a  graceless  faction?' 
'No  more  taxes  from  New  England,'  said  many  editors, 
'till  the  Administration  makes  peace,'  as  though  the  badgered 
and  distracted  Administration  had  not  been  directing  its 
best  energies  to  that  very  object  for  nearly  a  year  past. 

"The  great  British  expedition,  moreover,  so  long  muster- 
ing in  the  West  Indies,  so  long  delayed,  cast  a  vague  but 
prodigious,  shadow  before  it.  The  inactivity  of  the  enemy 
in  the  North  was  itself  a  cause  for  alarm.  Gallatin's  warn- 
ing letter  of  June,  1814,  had  put  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  Baltimore  on  their  guard,  but  as  the  autumn  passed 
without  the  reappearance  of  a  hostile  force  in  the  Northern 
waters,  the  conviction  gained  ground  that  something  over- 
whelming was  in  contemplation  against  the  defenseless 
South  and  Southwest.  Portentious  paragraphs  from  the 
newspapers  of  the  West  Indies  and  Canada  confirmed  his 
opinion.  In  October,  General  Wilkinson  felt  so  sure  that 
New  Orleans  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  that 
he  wrote  successively  to  three  of  his  friends  there,  and 
finally  to  Secretary  Monroe,  urging  the  instant  removal  of 
certain  plans  and  charts  which  he  had  left  in  the  town,  and 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  311 

which  would  be  of  fatal  value,  he  thought,  to  the  British 
General. 

"At  that  day,  the  reader  must  keep  in  mind,  New  Orleans 
was  as  many  days'  journey  from  Washington  as  New  York 
now  is  from  San  Francisco  (1,859  miles).  Fancy  the 
whole  country  in  breathless  expectation  today  of  an  attack 
upon  San  Francisco  by  a  vast  armament  that  had  been  for 
months  gathering  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  San  Francisco 
left,  necessarily,  to  its  own  resources,  with  some  vaguely 
known  Indian  fighter  from  the  mines  in  command  of  its 
militia.  With  what  feelings  should  we  read,  in  such  a 
posture  of  affairs,  the  heading  in  the  newspapers,  'Fifteen 
days  later  from  California.'  This  was  1859. 

"It  so  chanced  that  the  8th  of  January  was  the  day  on 
which  it  was  first  whispered  about  Washington  that  the 
President  had  received  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  British 
fleet  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  The  National  Intelli- 
gencer of  the  day  before  contained  'a  rumor'  that  a  fleet 
with  14,000  troops  on  board  had  been  seen  off  the  coast  of 
Florida.  The  next  issue  of  that  paper,  January  9th, 
announced  as  a  certainty  that  this  fleet  had  reached  the 
coast  of  Louisiana.  From  that  time,  the  eyes  of  the  country, 
as  the  papers  of  the  day  expressed  it,  were  fixed  upon  New 
Orleans,  not  hopefully.  It  is  not  an  overstatement  of  the 
case  to  say  that  there  was  not  one  well-informed  man  in  the 
Northern  States  who  believed  that  New  Orleans  could  be 
successfully  defended.  The  Administration  papers  tried  to 
put  the  best  face  upon  the  matter,  but  all  the  consolation 
that  even  the  Intelligencer  could  afford  its  readers  was  con- 
tained in  this  mild  remark:  'Appearances  justify  the 
expectation  of  the  British  expedition  not  being  ineffectually 
resisted.'  The  Federal  Republican,  of  Georgetown,  D.  C, 
commented  upon  the  news  thus:  'This  great  city  (New 
Orleans)  has  shared  the  fate  of  Washington,  or  General 
Jackson  has  immortalized  himself.'  The  Western  members 
of  Congress,  some  of  whom  knew  General  Jackson  person- 
ally, said,  with  great  confidence,  that  whatever  the  result 
of  the  campaign  might  be,  Jackson  would  do  all  that  man 
could  do  to  defend  the  city.  Tennessee  men  went  further 
than  this,  and  offered  to  bet  on  his  success. 


312  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"After  a  week  of  gossip  and  foreboding,  came  news  of 
the  gunboat  battle  and  its  disastrous  result,  also  rumors  of 
a  great  armament  hovering  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  'We  are 
a  lost  country,'  said  the  Federal  papers  in  doleful  concert. 
'A  wicked  Administration  has  ruined  us.  New  Orleans 
having  fallen  an  easy  prey,  the  British  General  will  leave  a 
few  acclimated  black  regiments  to  garrison  that  city,  and 
bring  the  Wellington  heroes  around  to  the  Chesapeake. 
Baltimore  will  again  be  overrun.  Philadelphia  and  New, 
Orleans  will  next  be  attacked,  and  who  shall  say  with  what 
result?  See  to  what  a  pass  Jefferson  and  French  Democ- 
racy have  brought  a  deluded  country.'  The  Democratic 
papers  still  strove,  though  with  evident  faint  heart,  to  talk 
hopefully,  a  fact  which  the  Federal  editors  adduced  as  the 
very  extreme  of  party  perversity.  'They  have  ruined  the 
country,  and  yet  in  this  last  dire  extremity  they  will  not 
own  it.' 

"January  21,  the  Intelligencer  published  accounts  of  the 
landing  of  General  Keane,  and  of  the  night  battle  of  Decem- 
ber 23.  But,  unluckily,  the  news  was  like  a  continued  story 
in  the  newspapers,  which  leaves  off  at  the  precise  moment 
when  the  reader  gasps  with  desire  to  have  the  tale  proceed. 
The  mail  closed  at  New  Orleans  at  daylight  on  the  morning 
of  the  24th.  No  dispatch  was  received  from  the  General, 
therefore,  but  merely  some  hasty  letters  from  people  in  New 
Orleans,  particularly  one  already  given  in  these  pages, 
which  left  the  army  in  the  field  expecting  to  renew  the 
combat  at  dawn  of  day.  Still  it  was  encouraging  to  know 
that  the  city  had  not  fallen,  and  that  Jackson  had  so 
decisively  announced  his  presence  to  a  confident  foe. 

"Then  followed  ten  weary  days  and  nights  of  suspense, 
without  one  word  from  the  seat  of  war.  Bad  news,  too, 
and  worse  rumors  from  other  quarters ;  news  of  the  capture 
of  the  frigate  President,  a  few  days  out  of  New  York ;  news 
of  the  appearance  of  a  great  fleet  off  Savannah,  the  town 
expecting  assault  from  three  thousand  troops,  martial  law 
proclaimed,  and  universal  alarm  news  of  the  dangerous 
illness  of  Secretary  Monroe,  worn  out  by  the  anxious  toil 
of  his  position;  dreadful  rumors  respecting  New  England 
and  the  Hartford  Convention;  rumors  that  the  President 
had  received  the  very  worst  news  from  New  Orleans,  but 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  313 

concealed  it  for  purposes  of  his  own;  rumors  that  the 
British  had  made  'fearful  havoc'  among  Jackson's  troops; 
rumors  that  Charleston  was  threatened;  rumors  of  British 
men-of-war  off  Montauk  Point,  and  the  capture  of  fisher- 
men in  Long  Island  Sound.  To  the  gossips  of  that  day,  the 
country  must  have  seemed  hemmed  in  on  every  side  by 
unknown  fleets  at  the  North,  by  indubitable  Wellington 
heroes  at  the  South.  'Not  a  fishing  smack/  said  a  Federal 
paper,  'can  venture  out  of  harbor  in  the  East  without  being 
immediately  picked  up  by  the  enemy's  cruisers.'  'See  what 
Jefferson,  and  French  Democracy,'  etc. 

"To  add  to  the  gloom  that  prevailed  in  Washington  and 
elsewhere,  a  snowstorm  of  remarkable  violence  and  extent 
set  in  on  the  23d  of  January,  and  continued  for  three  days. 
The  roads  were  blocked  up  in  every  direction,  far  and  near. 
On  the  last  day  of  the  month,  three  Southern  mails  were 
overdue  at  Washington,  and  every  soul  in  the  place  was 
worn  out  with  mere  hunger  for  news.  A  mail  struggled 
in  at  last  through  the  snow,  and  brought  simply  dispatches 
from  General  Jackson  detailing  the  gunboat  battle  and  the 
night  attack  of  the  23d.  The  dispatches  were  comforting, 
however,  as  they  made  certain  what  was  before  uncertain, 
and  were  instinct  with  Jackson's  own  resolution  and  confi- 
dence. A  few  hours  later  another  mail  arrived  with  news 
of  the  grand  reconnaissance  of  December  28,  and  of  the 
battle  of  the  batteries  on  the  ist  of  January;  but  also  of 
General  Packenham's  arrival  with  exaggerated  reinforce- 
ments. 'New  Orleans  is  not  yet  taken,'  said  the  Western 
members  and  the  Republican  editors.  'It  is  merely  a  ques- 
tion of  time,'  replied  the  Federalists;  'the  next  mail  will 
finish  New  Orleans  and  you.' 

"During  the  next  few  days  the  most  intense  and  painful 
solicitude  prevailed  in  all  circles;  a  solicitude  in  which 
patriotism,  partisan  and  humane  feelings  were  strangely 
blended.  Few  people  in  Washington  could  more  than  hope 
for  Jackson's  final  triumph,  and  that  faintly.  C.  J.  Inger- 
soll,  Republican  member  of  Congress,  tells  us  that  the 
evening  before  the  arrival  of  the  next  mail  he  was  closeted 
with  a  naval  officer,  when  the  standing  topic  of  the  seige  of 
New  Orleans  was  amply  discussed  between  them.  Maps 
were  examined,  the  means  of  defense  were  enumerated, 


314  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

comparisons  of  the  contending  armies  made.  The  officer 
demonstrated  to  his  own  satisfaction,  and  probably  con- 
vinced Mr.  Ingersoll,  that  the  defense  of  the  city  was 
impossible. 

"The  next  day  Mr.  Ingersoll,  in  his  character  of  Admin- 
istration member,  was  listening  in  silent  ecstacy  to  the  read- 
ing of  General  Jackson's  dispatch,  recounting  the  victory 
of  January  8th,  which  Mr.  Madison  had  sent  down  to  the 
House  in  order  that  his  political  friends  might  enjoy  the 
first  reading  of  it.  How  many  things  have  been  demon- 
strated to  be  impossible  just  before  they  were  done! 

"Washington  was  wild  with  delight.  The  Mayor,  while 
yet  the  news  was  only  known  to  official  persons,  issued  his 
proclamation  recommending  the  illumination  of  the  city. 
That  evening  the  town  was  blazing  with  light,  and  the 
whole  population  was  abroad,  now  thronging  about  the 
White  House,  cheering  the  President,  then  surging  around 
the  houses  of  the  secretaries  and  the  residences  of  the  lead- 
ing supporters  of  the  war,  rending  the  air  with  shouts. 
Modern  readers  vividly  remember  the  news  of  Buena  Vista, 
and  can  imagine  the  scenes  which  the  saloons  and  streets 
of  Washington  presented  on  February  4,  1815.  The  next 
issue  of  the  National  Intelligencer  cannot  be  glanced  over 
to  this  day  without  exciting  in  the  mind  something  of  the 
feeling  which  is  wont  to  express  itself  by  three  times  three 
and  one  cheer  more.  The  great  news  was  headed  in  the 
moderate  Intelligencer's  largest  type:  'Almost  Incredible 
Victory.' 

"Then  came  a  brief  summary  of  the  events  of  the  8th; 
how  the  enemy  in  prodigious  force  had  attacked  our 
intrenchments,  and  had  been  repulsed  by  General  Jackson 
and  his  brave  associates  with  unexampled  slaughter.  Then 
followed  two  dispatches  from  the  General,  with  letters  from 
other  officers.  The  entire  first  page  was  filled  with  victory ; 
editorial  comments  succeeding,  joyful,  but  moderate.  On 
the  wings  of  the  Intelligencer  the  news  flew  over  the  country, 
kindling  everywhere  the  maddest  enthusiasm.  'A  general 
illumination/  says  John  Binns,  in  his  autobiography,  'was 
ordered  in  Philadelphia.  Few,  indeed,  there  were,  yet  there 
were  a  few,  who,  on  that  night,  closed  their  window- 
shutters  and  mourned  over  the  defeat  of  the  enemies  of  their 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  315 

country.  I  had  early  intelligence  of  this  joyful  news,  and 
gladly,  by  an  extra,  spread  it  abroad.  I  put  the  scene 
painters  to  work,  and  had  a  transparency  painted  which 
covered  nearly  the  whole  front  of  my  house.  There  had 
been  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  and  there  was  that  evening  from 
nine  to  twelve  inches'  depth  of  snow  on  the  ground.  That, 
however,  did  not  prevent  men,  women,  and  children  from 
parading  the  streets,  and  delighting  their  eyes  by  looking 
at  the  illuminations  and  the  illuminated  transparencies, 
which  made  the  principal  streets  of  our  city  as  light  as  day. 
My  transparency  represented  General  Jackson  on  horseback 
at  the  head  of  his  staff,  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  with  the 
motto,  'This  day  shall  ne'er  go  by,  from  this  day  to  the 
ending  of  the  world,  but  he,  in  it,  shall  be  remembered.' 

"The  opposition  journals  far  surpassed  even  those  of  the 
Administration  in  heaping  laudations  upon  the  name  of 
Jackson,  since  they  were  anxious  to  keep  their  readers  in 
mind  that  in  the  honors  of  this  great  triumph  the  Adminis- 
tration had  no  share.  Jackson,  and  Jackson  alone,  aided 
by  his  gallant  troops,  had  won  the  battle.  To  Jackson  and 
the  army  be  all  the  glory !  Who  is  this  Jackson  ?  Where 
was  he  born?  What  State  claims  him?  Where  had  he 
been  all  his  life?  What  is  his  business  and  standing?  To 
such  questions  as  these,  uttered  by  tens  of  thousands  of 
Northern  people,  who  knew  little  of  Jackson  but  his  name, 
editors  and  correspondents  gave  such  answers  as  they  could 
gather  or  invent.  Wonderful  things  were  told  of  him. 
'He  is  a  lawyer  of  Tennessee,  the  most  elegant  scholar  in 
the  Western  country.'  'He  was  born  in  Ireland.'  'He  was 
born  in  South  Carolina.'  'No,  he  was  born  in  England, 
where  his  parents  and  a  brother  or  two  are  still  living,  near 
Wolverhampton,  where  I  saw  them  a  few  years  ago.'  But 
all  agreed  that  he  had  defended  New  Orleans  in  a  most 
masterly  manner,  gained  the  most  splendid  victory  of  the 
war,  and  wrote  a  perfect  model  of  a  clear,  eloquent,  and 
modest  dispatch." 

This  statement  of  Mr.  Parton's  is  gladly  published  in  full, 
and  if  it  were  possible  I  would  gladly  condone  and  forgive 
all  the  misstatements  scattered  through  the  book  —  even 


316  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  last  chapter,  which  is  a  studied  perversion  of  Jackson's 
life;  and  especially  do  I  overlook  the  misstatement  in  this 
extract,  which  is  more  than  an  insinuation  —  that  Mr. 
Livingston  did  all  of  Jackson's  writing.  How  any  man 
writing  the  life  of  General  Jackson,  and  seeing  the  situation 
as  Parton  puts  it  in  this  extended  extract,  could  get  his 
mind  made  up  to  write  Jackson  down  an  ignoramus,  and 
incapable  of  filling  any  place  of  importance,  I  cannot  see. 

It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Parton,  after  he  wrote  this  scene 
—  for  the  whole  story  is  the  most  marvelous  in  American 
history  —  might  with  loving  forgiveness  have  passed  over 
many  of  the  incidents  in  Jackson's  life  which  he  has  given 
to  the  discredit  of  the  hero  he  here  describes. 

After  writing  this  sketch,  which  is  now  with  pleasure 
incorporated  in  this  book,  every  reader  will  say  that  Mr. 
Parton  was  capable  of  writing  a  book  acceptable  to  the 
American  people,  and  even  to  the  warm,  devoted  friends  of 
General  Jackson  in  the  South ;  and  this  sketch  taken  from 
Parton's  "Life  of  General  Jackson,"  and  considered  with 
other  parts  of  the  book,  will  necessarily  bring  up  the  para- 
doxical statements  so  often  made  by  Mr.  Parton  that 
Jackson  was  self-willed  and  listened  to  nobody,  and  then 
again  the  repeated  statements  that  one  or  two  men  with 
flattery  could  control  him  and  lead  him  as  they  pleased.  It 
is  but  an  illustartion  that  Mr.  Parton  has  done  what  very 
few  men  could  do  —  write  a  book,  give  it  all  as  truth,  and 
make  its  pages  absolutely  self -contradictory  from  start  to 
finish ;  but,  nevertheless,  this  chapter  will  be  read  with  great 
interest.  It  is  a  picture;  it  is  a  painting;  it  is  a  scene  on 
the  stage  that  presents  to  the  mind  the  most  trying  period  ; 
and  the  most  dreaded  crisis  with  the  greatest  relief  —  and 
all  done  suddenly  by  one  man  —  that  is  anywhere  to  be 
found  in  the  history  of  this  country  from  the  time  of  the 
first  settlement  down  to  this  day. 

Certainly  no  such  gloom,  no  such  despondency,  no  such 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  317 

dread  of  coming  news,  has  ever  been  seen  and  felt  on  this 
continent  as  was  at  Washington  and  throughout  the  country 
when  everybody  was  waiting  to  learn  what  the  backwoods 
man  from  Tennessee  had  done  in  the  way  of  arresting, 
checking,  or  attempting  to  check  a  calamity  that  had  swept 
over  the  North  —  had  visited  Bladensburg,  Detroit,  French- 
town,  and  finally  the  Capitol,  driving  out  and  taking  down 
the  flag.  It  took  a  brave  man  to  say  he  hoped  that  Jackson 
would  succeed ;  certain  great  leading  facts  were  known  and 
painfully  realized  by  the  American  people  at  that  time. 
These  facts  were,  briefly :  That  we  had  declared  war  against 
England,  substantially  over  the  protest  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
the  ex-President,  and  Mr.  Madison,  the  then  President, 
because  they  did  not  believe  we  had  sufficiently  recovered 
after  the  long  war  of  the  Revolution  to  maintain  ourselves 
in  a  contest  with  England.  It  was  known  from  one  end  of 
the  country  to  the  other  that  the  war  on  our  side  had  been 
a  war  of  disasters,  and  that  there  was  not  a  ray  of  light 
from  any  quarter,  except  what  Jackson  had  done  in  the 
Creek  Nation,  fighting  England's  most  powerful  ally,  and 
then  his  battle  at  Mobile  Bay  and  his  capture  of  Pensacola ; 
and  with  the  many  it  was  not  known  whether  going  into  a 
Spanish  territory,  as  Jackson  did,  was  going  to  help  us,  and 
whether  it  might  not  complicate  our  relations  very  much. 
It  was  well  known  that  New  England  was  against  war,  and 
that  the  President  had  constantly  been  kept  in  great  sus- 
pense as  to  whether  New  England's  influence  would  not 
finally  turn  everything  against  us. 

It  was  well  known  that  the  English  press,  such  papers  as 
the  London  Times  and  the  London  Sun,  and  the  magazines, 
were  writing  us  down  as  a  nation  of  cowards  ready  to  bring 
on  a  fight,  but  too  cowardly  to  go  into  it  and  fight  it  out 
like  men. 

It  was  well  known  at  Washington,  through  the  letters  of 
Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Gallatin,  and  the  other  commis- 


318  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

sioners  in  Europe,  that  Napoleon  had  capitulated,  and  that 
this  released  one  of  the  finest  armies  that  the  world  ever  saw 
—  the  army  that  had  followed  Wellington  in  his  campaign 
in  Spain,  and  crossed  the  Pyrenees  Mountains  into  France; 
and  especially  by  the  letter  of  Mr.  Gallatin  to  the  President, 
that  a  great  fleet  had  been  prepared,  and  that  the  soldiers 
from  Wellington  were  being  organized  for  a  campaign 
against  the  South,  and  at  the  very  time  news  had  reached 
Washington  that  it  was  believed  in  England  that  New 
Orleans  had  been  taken,  and,  as  one  of  the  lords  of  England 
expressed  it  in  speaking  to  the  King  of  France,  "that  the 
Southwest  and  all  the  cities  on  the  coast  were  practically 
prisoners  of  war  in  their  own  country." 

There  was  not  a  ray  of  hope  nor  the  slightest  preparation 
for  defense  anywhere  except  from  this  Backwoodsman  that 
Madison  had  made  a  Major  General  in  the  United  States 
Army,  and  that  without  giving  him  an  army,  leaving  him 
dependent  entirely  upon  such  force  as  he  could  raise  in  his 
own  State.  Perhaps  no  great  nation  ever  had  a  darker  day 
than  that  very  day  that  Mr.  Parton  describes  in  this  chapter. 

I  am  not  willing  to  send  this  chapter  to  the  press  without 
giving  expression  to  a  feeling  of  injustice  mingled  with 
indignation,  more  keenly  felt  by  two  papers  received  and 
read  since  I  commenced  the  revision  of  this  chapter,  for  I 
am  now  making  the  second  revision  of  the  book.  These 
papers  are  an  article  in  the  Nashville  Daily  News  of  this 
date  —  the  5th  of  May,  1903  —  and  a  letter  from  a  lady  in 
New  York  —  both  reviewing  and  complaining  of  the  omis- 
sion in  leaving  Jackson  out  of  the  Hall  of  Fame.  The 
News  says: 

"It  was  provided  that  fifty  names  should  be  inscribed  on 
the  tablets  at  the  beginning,  and  five  names  each  succeeding 
fifth  year  until  the  year  2000,  when  the  list  of  150  will  have 
been  completed. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  319 

"The  council  of  the  New  York  University  selected  an 
electorate  of  one  hundred  eminent  citizens,  each  of  whom 
was  to  vote  for  fifty  candidates  .  Of  the  100  judges,  97 
voted.  The  number  of  names  that  had  been  submitted  as 
candidates  by  popular  nomination  was  252.  No  candidate 
receiving  less  than  fifty-one  votes  could  be  accepted,  and  but 
twenty-nine  received  the  required  number.  These  were 
as  follows: 

"George  Washington,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Daniel  Web- 
ster, Benjamin  Franklin,  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  John  Marshall, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Henry  W. 
JLongfellow,  Robert  Fulton,  Washington  Irving,  Jonathan 
Edwards,  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  David  G.  Farragut,  Henry 
Clay,  Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  George  Peabody,  Robert  E. 
Lee,  Peter  Cooper,  Eli  Whitney,  John  J.  Audubon,  Horace 
Mann,  Henry  Ward  Beacher,  James  Kent,  Joseph  Story, 
John  Adams,  William  E.  Channing,  Gilbert  Stuart,  and 
Asa  Gray." 

This  Hall  of  Fame  was  built  by  a  donation  of  $100,000 
by  an  unknown  person  for  great  Americans. 

I  have  no  purpose  in  putting  into  a  book  that  may  pos- 
sibly go  down  to  future  generations  an  act  of  one  hundred 
eminent  citizens  —  made  an  electorate  body  to  select  names 
—  that  cannot  be  described  as  less  than  an  ignoble  sectional 
prejudice,  except  to  perpetuate  a  knowledge  of  the  act. 
This  ignoble  omission  has  but  one  fitting  prototype  in  Amer- 
ican history.  When  General  Jackson  drove  the  British 
army  back  to  the  sea  and  into  their  ships  down  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  returned  and  came  into  the 
city  that  he  had  saved  from  a  vandal  army's  victory  over 
"booty  and  beauty,"  the  Legislature  in  session  passed  a 
resolution  thanking  all  commanding  officers  by  name  — 
except  General  Jackson.  But  for  this  the  Legislature  had 
a  reason ;  Jackson  had  found  it  necessary  to  put  a  squad  of 
soldiers  at  the  Capitol  to  keep  that  body  from  surrendering 
the  city  while  he  whipped  the  attacking  army. 


320  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

This  exhibition  of  prejudice  against  the  South  is  an 
offense  to  public  decency,  and  unworthy  any  portion  of  the 
American  people. 

At  a  time  when  a  powerful  invading  army  had  humiliated 
the  northern  section  of  our  common  country  as  never 
before,  and  when  threatened  national  dishonor  was  visible 
on  every  man's  brow — and  despair  in  every  woman's  face — 
the  President  driven  into  the  country  and  the  flag  pulled 
down  from  the  Capitol,  this  great  soldier,  great  American, 
friend  of  the  entire  country,  as  if  by  a  writ  of  restitution 
restored  the  President  to  his  national  home  and  put  him  in 
possession,  and  put  the  flag  back  on  the  Capitol,  having  sent 
the  invading  generals,  Packenham  and  Gibbs,  back  in  coffins 
and  General  Keane  back  on  crutches,  with  a  fourth  of  the 
army  of  invasion  dead.  But  the  Hall  of  Fame  for  "Great 
Americans"  is  no  place  for  Jackson.  He  was  a  South  man. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  321 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

JACKSON'S  PATRIOTIC  ADDRESS  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  NEW 

ORLEANS FULL    OF    HISTORY THE    HONOR    PAID 

JACKSON  BY  THE  PEOPLE THE  SPEECH  OF  THE  REV. 

DUBOURG  AND  JACKSON'S  REPLY. 

IN  closing  up  the  record  of  General  Jackson  in  the  Indian 
and  British  wars  of  1812,  and  before  I  take  up  his 
campaign  against  the  Seminole  Indians  in  1818,  and 
out  of  which  came  that  battle  of  giants  between  Mr.  Clay, 
Mr.  Webster,  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  a  dozen  other  men  of  less 
note,  but  of  great  power,  on  one  side,  and  the  man  of  destiny 
on  the  other,  I  beg  to  show  what  a  mighty  man  of  valor  can 
be,  and  is,  when  the  rage  of  battle  is  over. 

After  the  British  had  been  followed  up  and  driven  from 
the  soil  that  Jackson  said  they  should  not  sleep  on,  and  into 
their  ships,  and  before  the  army  marched  back  to  the  city, 
the  great  soldier  prepared  an  address  to  be  read  at  the  head 
of  each  command,  which  I  here  give  in  full : 

"Citizens  and  Fellow  Soldiers:  The  enemy  has  retreated, 
and  as  your  General  has  now  leisure  to  proclaim  to  the 
world  what  he  has  noticed  with  admiration  and  pride,  your 
undaunted  courage,  your  patriotism  and  patience,  under 
hardships  and  fatigues.  Natives  of  different  States,  acting 
together  for  the  first  time  in  this  camp,  differing  in  habits 
and  in  language,  instead  of  viewing  in  these  circumstances 
the  germ  of  distrust  and  division,  you  have  made  them  the 
source  of  honorable  emulation,  and  from  the  seeds  of  dis- 
cord itself  have  reaped  the  fruits  of  an  honorable  union. 
This  day  completes  the  fourth  week  since  1,500  of  you 
attacked  treble  your  number  of  men,  who  had  boasted  of 
their  discipline  and  their  services  under  a  celebrated  leader 


322  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

in  a  long  and  eventful  war,  attacked  them  in  their  camp  the 
moment  they  had  profaned  the  soil  of  freedom  with  their 
hostile  tread,  and  inflicted  a  blow  which  was  a  prelude  to 
the  final  result  of  their  attempt  to  conquer  or  their  poor 
contrivances  to  divide  us.  A  few  hours  was  sufficient  to 
unite  the  gallant  band,  though  at  the  moment  they  received 
the  welcome  order  to  march  they  were  separated  many 
leagues  in  different  directions  from  the  city.  The  gay 
rapidity  of  the  march  and  the  cheerful  countenance  of  the 
officers  and  men  would  have  induced  the  belief  that  some 
festive  entertainment,  not  the  strife  of  battle,  was  the  scene 
to  which  they  hastened  with  so  much  eagerness  and  hilarity. 
In  the  conflict  that  ensued  the  same  spirit  was  supported, 
and  my  communications  to  the  executive  of  the  United 
States  have  testified  the  sense  I  entertained  of  the  merits 
of  the  corps  and  officers  that  were  engaged.  Resting  on 
the  field  of  battle,  they  retired  in  perfect  order  on  the  next 
morning  to  these  lines,  destined  to  become  the  scene  of 
future  victories,  which  they  were  to  share  with  the  rest  of 
you,  my  brave  companions  in  arms.  Scarcely  were  your 
lines  a  protection  against  musket  shot  when,  on  the  28th,  a 
disposition  was  made  to  attack  them  with  all  the  pomp  and 
parade  of  military  tactics,  as  improved  by  those  veterans  of 
the  Spanish  war. 

"Their  batteries  of  heavy  cannon  kept  up  an  incessant 
fire,  their  rockets  illuminated  the  air,  and  under  their  cover 
two  strong  columns  threatened  our  flanks.  The  foe  inso- 
lently thought  that  this  spectacle  was  too  imposing  to  be 
resisted,  and  in  the  intoxication  of  his  pride  he  already  saw 
our  lines  abandoned  without  a  contest.  How  were  these 
menacing  appearances  met?  By  shouts  of  defiance;  by  a 
manly  countenance  not  to  be  shaken  by  the  roar  of  his 
cannon  or  by  the  glare  of  fireworks  rockets ;  by  an  artillery 
served  with  superior  skill  and  with  deadly  effect.  Never, 
my  brave  friends,  can  your  General  forget  the  testimonials 
of  attachment  to  our  glorious  cause,  of  indignant  hatred  to 
our  foe,  of  affectionate  confidence  in  your  chief,  that 
resounded  from  every  rank  as  he  passed  along  your  line. 
This  animating  scene  dampened  the  courage  of  the  enemy; 
he  dropped  his  scaling  ladders  and  fascines,  and  the  threat- 
ened attack  dwindled  into  a  demonstration  which  served 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  323 

only  to  show  the  emptiness  of  his  parade,  and  to  inspire  you 
with  a  just  confidence  in  yourselves. 

"The  new  year  was  ushered  in  with  the  most  tremendous 
fire  his  whole  artillery  could  produce;  a  few  hours  only, 
however,  were  necessary  for  the  brave  and  skillful  men  who 
directed  our  own  to  dismount  his  cannon,  destroy  his  bat- 
teries, and  effectually  silence  his  fire.  Hitherto,  my  brave 
friends,  in  the  contest  on  our  lines,  your  courage  had  been 
passive  only;  you  stood  with  calmness  a  fire  that  would 
have  tried  the  firmness  of  a  veteran,  and  you  anticipated  a 
nearer  contest  with  an  eagerness  which  was  soon  to  be 
gratified. 

"On  the  8th  of  January  the  final  effort  was  made.  At 
the  dawn  of  day  the  batteries  opened  and  the  columns 
advanced.  Knowing  that  the  volunteers  from  Tennessee 
and  the  militia  from  Kentucky  were  stationed  on  your  left, 
it  was  there  they  directed  their  chief  attack. 

"Reasoning  always  from  false  principles,  they  expected 
little  opposition  from  men  whose  officers  even  were  not  in 
uniform,  who  were  ignorant  of  the  rules  of  dress,  and  who 
had  never  been  caned  into  discipline.  Fatal  mistake ;  a  fire 
incessantly  kept  up,  directed  with  a  calmness  and  unerring 
aim,  strewed  the  field  with  the  bravest  officers  and  men  of 
the  column  which  slowly  advanced,  according  to  the  most 
approved  rules  of  European  tactics,  and  was  cut  down  by 
the  untutored  courage  of  American  militia.  Unable  to 
sustain  this  galling  and  unceasing  fire,  some  hundreds  near- 
est the  entrenchment  called  for  quarter,  which  was  granted, 
the  rest  retreating,  were  rallied  at  some  distance,  but  only 
to  make  them  a  surer  mark  for  the  grape  and  cannister  shot 
of  our  artillery,  which,  without  exaggeration,  mowed  down 
whole  ranks  at  every  discharge,  and  at  length  they  precipi- 
tately retired  from  the  field. 

"Our  right  had  only  a  short  contest  to  sustain  with  a  few 
rash  men,  who  fatally  for  themselves  forced  their  entrance 
into  the  unfinished  redoubt  on  the  river.  They  were  quickly 
dispossessed,  and  this  glorious  day  terminated  with  the  loss 
to  the  enemy  of  their  commander-in-chief  and  one  major 
general  killed,  another  major  general  wounded,  the  most 
experienced  and  bravest  of  their  officers  and  more  than 
3,000  men  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  while  our  ranks, 


324  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

my  friends,  were  thinned  only  by  the  loss  of  seven  of  our 
brave  companions  killed  and  six  disabled  by  wounds  — 
wonderful  interposition  of  Heaven,  unexampled  event  in 
the  history  of  war. 

"Let  us  be  grateful  to  the  God  of  battles,  who  has  directed 
the  arrows  of  indignation  against  our  invaders,  while  he 
covered  with  his  protecting  shield  the  brave  defenders  of 
their  country. 

"After  this  unsuccessful  and  disastrous  attempt,  their 
spirits  were  broken,  their  force  was  destroyed,  and  their 
whole  attention  was  employed  in  providing  the  means  of 
escape.  This  they  have  effected,  leaving  their  heavy  artil- 
lery in  our  power,  and  many  of  their  wounded  to  our  clem- 
ency. The  consequences  of  this  short  but  decisive  campaign 
are  incalculably  important.  The  pride  of  our  arrogant 
enemy  humbled,  his  forces  broken,  his  leaders  killed,  his 
insolent  hopes  of  our  disunion  frustrated,  his  expectation 
of  rioting  in  our  spoils  and  wasting  our  country  changed 
into  ignominious  defeat,  shameful  flight  and  a  reluctant 
acknowledgment  of  the  humanity  and  kindness  of  those 
whom  he  had  doomed  to  all  the  horrors  and  humiliation  of 
a  conquered  State. 

"On  the  other  side,  unanimity  established,  disaffection 
crushed,  confidence  restored,  your  country  saved  from  con- 
quest, your  property  from  pillage,  your  wives  and  daughters 
from  insult  and  violation,  the  Union  preserved  from  dis- 
memberment, and  perhaps  a  period  put  by  this  decisive 
stroke  to  a  bloody  and  savage  war.  These,  my  brave 
friends,  are  the  consequences  of  the  efforts  you  have  made, 
and  the  success  with  which  they  have  been  crowned  by 
Heaven. 

"These  important  results  have  been  effected  by  the  united 
courage  and  perseverance  of  the  army,  but  which  the  differ- 
ent corps,  as  well  as  the  individuals  that  compose  it,  have 
vied  with  each  other  in  their  exertions  to  produce.  The 
gratitude,  the  admiration  of  their  country,  offers  a  fairer 
reward  than  that  which  any  praises  of  the  General  can 
bestow,  and  the  best  that  of  which  they  can  never  be 
deprived  —  the  consciousness  of  having  done  their  duty 
and  of  meriting  the  applause  they  will  receive." 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  325 

This  address  is  a  great  state  paper,  deeply  touching  in  the 
affectionate  relation  between  the  commander,  whose  brain 
planned,  and  the  private  soldier  who  obeyed  his  orders  with 
a  willing  step  that  immortalized  both.  It  is  great  in  its 
patriotism,  which  is  the  highest  estate  that  citizen  life  can 
reach.  It  is  great  in  the  wide  reach  and  far-seeing  effect 
of  what  the  Commanding  General  and  his  private  soldiers 
had  done  for  their  country  and  posterity,  great  in  giving 
the  credit  to  his  soldiers. 

All  in  all,  it  was  a  day  in  our  history  that  will  quicken  the 
pulse  of  patriots  for  ages.  From  a  dread  forecast  that  hung 
as  a  dark  cloud  of  hopeless  despair  over  every  patriot  home 
from  the  Eastern  shore  to  the  great  waters  on  the  West,  the 
sun  rose  on  a  new  day.  From  defeat  there  came  victory. 
From  a  nation  in  a  righteous  war,  with  untrained  soldiers, 
beaten  down  with  veterans  and  superior  numbers  on  every 
field,  the  enemy's  greatest  army  was  literally  driven  into  the 
sea.  In  a  single  day  the  insulting  press  had  been  silenced, 
and  the  answer  to  the  oft-repeated  charge  that  we  were  a 
nation  of  braggarts  to  bring  on  a  war,  but  cowards  in  the 
fight,  given  in  such  blunt  language,  that  up  to  this  time, 
no  British  quill-driver  has  repeated  the  slander. 

It  is  true  the  treaty  of  Ghent  had  been  made,  brought 
about  by  the  victories  in  the  Creek  Nation  at  Mobile  and  at 
Pensacola,  but  in  deep  humiliation  our  commissioners  had 
consented  to  a  treaty  without  securing  any  concession  on 
the  main  cause  of  the  war,  the  right  of  search  on  the  high 
seas,  and  the  treaty  was  signed  without  it.  But  "Old 
Hickory"  at  New  Orleans  put  it  in  the  treaty  in  more  endur- 
ing form  than  it  could  have  been  done  by  Clay,  Adams, 
Bayard,  Gallatin,  and  Russell  at  Ghent.  Jackson  put  it  in 
with  blood  letters,  and  after  three  generations  have  passed 
away,  no  British  lord  nor  British  sea  captain  nor  British 
general  in  quest  of  somebody's  country  has  ever  whispered 
the  right  to  search  American  skips  on  the  high  seas. 


326  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Why  the  address  to  the  army,  which  contains  more 
American  history  than  any  paper  of  its  length  that  was  ever 
written,  in  my  opinion,  was  not  thought  worthy  a  place  in 
Parton's  "Life  of  Jackson,"  I  do  not  know.  The  refusal 
of  Mr.  Parton  to  publish  this  address  in  the  voluminous 
book  he  wrote  is  like  his  refusal  to  publish  the  "Exposition," 
the  only  paper  Jackson  had  asked  to  be  put  in  his  life  when 
written,  the  highest  possible  negative  evidence  of  unfairness. 

This  address  tells  the  whole  story.  It  discloses  the  secret 
of  a  great  victory  by  raw  militia  over  a  trained  army  of 
more  than  double  their  number,  which  so  astounded  army 
officers  in  all  parts  of  the  world  that  nothing  but  a  thousand 
confessions  by  the  officers  of  the  vanquished  army  has 
verified  the  story  told  by  the  victors. 

Without  General  Jackson's  concise  statement  in  this 
address,  of  the  way  he  cut  this  great  army  to  pieces  by  piece- 
meal, demoralizing  the  entire  British  army  and  giving  con- 
fidence to  his  own  men,  thus  giving  him  the  victory  when 
the  final  issue  came,  the  mystery  of  the  victory  would  be  a 
mystery  still. 

The  American  people  at  the  time  I  am  writing,  to  say 
nothing  of  strangers,  do  not  know  how  General  Jackson 
won  the  victory  of  the  8th  of  January.  Even  reading 
people  do  not  seem  to  understand  that  the  shan't-sleep-on- 
our-soil  night  battle  of  the  23d  of  December,  1814,  giving 
the  British  the  entree  of  war  by  Tennessee  Indian  fighters 
who  used  hatchets  and  butcher  knives,  was  the  unique,  vic- 
torious opening  of  a  fighting  campaign  that  lasted  every 
day  and  every  night  up  to  the  8th,  and  including  a  succes- 
sion of  hand-to-hand  triumphs  that  actually  pounded  into 
the  heads  of  the  British  soldiers  such  a  surprise  that  when 
the  battle  of  the  8th  came  their  generals,  in  a  desperate 
effort  to  lead  a  demoralized  army  to  the  front,  were  all 
killed,  and  the  soldiers  were  fleeing  to  their  ships,  confessing 
a  defeat  that  they  of  all  men  knew  most  about. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  327 

The  shan't-sleep-on-our-soil  night  battle  of  December 
23d,  the  battle  of  the  28th,  and  the  battle  of  the  ist  of 
January,  with  the  backwoodsmen  of  Tennessee  every  night 
out  hunting  roundsmen  and  pickets  like  they  hunted  coons 
—  Jackson's  unprecedented  tenacious  fighting,  day  and 
night,  with  part  of  his  army,  while  with  the  balance  he 
improvised  a  line  of  defense  under  the  very  nose  of  Pack- 
enham's  great  army  —  is  what  whipped  the  British  before 
the  final  battle  came.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  this  is  now 
conceded  by  British  authorities. 

The  facts  in  this  address  solve  the  mystery;  besides,  it 
contains  more  patriotic  fervor  and  a  higher  system  of  tactics 
in  war,  a  brotherhood  between  the  General  and  his  soldiers, 
than  had  been  found  in  the  orders  of  any  general  in  any 
time  —  the  pronouncement  of  a  system  that  carried  an 
army  through  a  campaign  which  had  no  parallel  in  the 
drudgery  of  service,  the  obedience  of  orders,  and  the 
triumphs  of  victory,  with  but  one  deserter  in  the  entire 
campaign. 

Eaton's  "Life  of  Jackson"  gives  the  following  account 
of  Jackson's  triumphant  march  back  into  the  city,  after  he 
had  driven  the  enemy  to  their  ships : 

"On  the  2Oth,  General  Jackson,  with  his  remaining 
forces,  commenced  his  march  back  to  New  Orleans.  The 
general  glow  excited  at  beholding  his  entrance  into  the  city 
at  the  head  of  his  victorious  army  was  manifested  by  all 
those  feelings  which  patriotism  and  sympathy  inspire.  The 
windows  and  streets  were  crowded  to  view  the  man  who, 
by  his  vigilance,  decision,  and  energy,  had  saved  the  country 
from  the  fate  to  which  it  had  been  exposed.  It  was  a  scene 
well  calculated  to  excite  the  tenderest  emotions.  But  a 
few  weeks  since,  and  every  bosom  throbbed  for  its  safety. 
Fathers,  sons,  and  husbands,  urged  by  the  necessity  of  the 
times,  were  toiling  in  defense  of  their  wives  and  children. 
A  ferocious  soldiery,  numerous  and  skilled  in  the  art  of 
war,  to  whom  every  indulgence  had  been  promised,  were 


328  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

straining  every  exertion  to  effect  their  object.  Every 
cannon  that  echoed  from  the  line  was  perhaps  the  signal  of 
their  approach  and  the  commencement  of  indescribable 
horrors. 

"But  those  feelings  had  subsided;  the  painful  scenes, 
which  had  lasted  so  long,  were  gone.  The  tender  female, 
relieved  from  the  anguish  of  danger  and  suspense,  no  longer 
trembled  for  her  safety  and  her  honor;  a  new  order  of 
things  had  arisen;  joy  sparkled  in  every  countenance,  while 
scarcely  a  widow  or  orphan  was  seen  to  cloud  the  general 
transport.  The  Commanding  General,  under  whose  ban- 
ners everything  had  been  achieved,  deliberate,  cool,  and 
sparing  of  the  lives  of  the  brave  defenders  of  their  country, 
had  dispelled  the  storm  which  had  so  long  threatened  to 
involve  the  ruin  of  thousands,  and  was  now  returning  safe 
and  unhurt,  with  those  who  had  with  him  maintained  the 
contest  His  approach  was  hailed  with  acclamations;  it 
was  not  the  kind  of  applause  which,  resulting  from  fear,  is 
sometimes  extended  by  the  subject  to  some  conqueror  or 
tyrant  returning  in  triumph,  but  that  which  was  extended 
by  citizens  to  a  citizen,  springing  from  affection,  and 
founded  in  the  honest  sincerity  of  the  heart.  All  greeted 
his  return  and  hailed  him  as  their  deliverer. 

"But  amidst  the  expressions  of  thanks  and  honors  and 
congratulations  heaped  upon  him,  he  was  not  unmindful 
that  to  an  energy  above  his  own  and  to  a  wisdom  which 
controls  the  destiny  of  nations  he  was  indebted  for  the 
glorious  triumph  of  his  arms.  Relieved  from  the  arduous 
duties  of  the  field,  his  first  concern  was  to  draw  the  minds 
of  all  in  thankfulness  and  adoration  to  that  sovereign 
mercy,  without  whose  aid  and  inspiring  counsel  vain  are 
all  earthly  efforts.  The  23d  having  been  appointed  a  day 
of  prayer  and  thanksgiving  for  the  happy  deliverance 
effected  by  our  arms,  he  repaired  to  the  Cathedral.  The 
church  and  altar  were  splendidly  adorned,  and  more  than 
could  obtain  admission  had  crowded  to  witness  the  cere- 
mony. A  grateful  recollection  of  his  exertions  to  save  the 
country  was  cherished  by  all ;  nor  did  the  solemnity  of  the 
occasion,  even  here,  restrain  a  manifestation  of  their  regard 
or  induce  them  to  withhold  the  honor  so  nobly  earned. 
Children,  robed  in  white  and  representing  the  different 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  329 

States,  were  employed  in  strewing  the  way  with  flowers, 
and  as  he  passed  sang  the  beautiful  ode,  'Hail  to  the  Chief/  " 

It  is  pleasing  to  dwell  on  cheerful,  happy,  joyous  New 
Orleans,  when  this  great  delivery  came,  and  with  the  great- 
est pleasure  I  give  here  an  entire  chapter  from  "Jackson's 
Memoirs,"  by  Mr.  Waldo,  a  Massachusetts  man,  who  wrote 
a  little  book  three  years  after  the  battles  of  New  Orleans. 
At  the  same  time  I  make  my  grateful  acknowledgments  for 
this  valuable  little  book,  in  which  the  early  life  and  military 
career  of  General  Jackson  are  so  justly  given.  This  book 
is  out  of  print,  and  after  most  diligent  search  I  have  only 
been  able  to  find  one  copy.  Here  is  the  extended  extract: 

"The  attention  of  the  reader  is  now  to  be  called  from 
scenes  of  carnage,  wounds,  death,  defeat  and  victory,  to 
one,  the  most  deeply  interesting  that  can  possibly  be  pre- 
sented to  view  of  men.  He  is  to  be  suddenly  transported 
from  those  appalling  scenes  which,  if  tears  are  permitted  to 
soil  the  purity  of  heaven,  must  make  the  angels  weep,  to  one 
which  must  make  them  rejoice. 

"General  Jackson,  his  gallant  officers  and  his  troops,  al- 
though loaded  with  earthly  honors  and  greeted  with  the 
acclamations  of  a  grateful  and  protected  people,  did  not 
omit  to  render  that  homage  which  is  due  to  that  Almighty 
Being  who  'reigns  in  the  armies  of  heaven  above,  as  well  as 
in  the  earth  beneath.'  A  day  of  thanksgiving  and  solemn 
praise  was  appointed  by  the  General.  It  was  upon  the  23d 
of  January.  The  solemn  rites  were  performed  in  the  Cathe- 
dral in  New  Orleans.  To  behold  a  war-worn  veteran  like 
General  Jackson,  surrounded  by  his  war-worn  officers  and 
troops,  prostrated  upon  the  altar  of  adoration  and  offering 
to  the  God  of  battles  that  glory  which  the  world  had 
bestowed  upon  them,  must  have  moved  the  heart  of  apathy 
itself.  It  is  totally  impossible  for  one  who  was  not  a  wit- 
ness of  the  scene  to  have  a  conception  of  its  solemn  gran- 
deur. The  solemn  peals  of  the  organ,  in  unison  with  vocal 
praises,  sent  up  to  heaven  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of 
a  preserved  people. 


330  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"  'Grim  visag'd  war  had  smooth'd  its  wrinkled  front,' 
tears  of  exquisite  joy  rolled  down  the  cheeks  of  soldiers  and 
citizens,  and  the  hearts  of  all  were  swollen  with  gratitude  to 
the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  The  Republic  was 
safe;  a  vaunting  foe  was  overthrown,  and  although  the 
memories  of  the  few  who  had  fallen  in  the  sanguinary 
field  'in  sad  remembrance  rose/  it  was  a  subject  of  inex- 
pressible consolation  that  almost  all  the  soldiers  who  had 
formed  the  impregnable  rampart  upon  the  plains  of  the 
Mississippi  were  now  assempled  in  the  city  which  owed  its 
preservation  to  their  valor  and  to  the  blessing  of  heaven. 

"Upon  this  occasion  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dubourg,  the  minister 
apostolic  of  the  Diocese  of  Louisiana,  delivered  to  the 
General  an  address  replete  with  the  pious  effusions  of  the 
Christian  and  the  elegancies  of  the  scholar.  Although  it 
has  long  been  before  the  public,  I  cannot  omit  to  enrich  this 
volume  by  inserting  a  part  of  it,  together  with  the  impress- 
ive answer  of  General  Jackson.  While  they  will  be  read 
with  rapture  by  the  Christian,  they  cannot  fail  to  excite  the 
adrriration  of  the  patriot. 

"The  venerable  minister  of  the  gospel  thus  addressed  the 
hero  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  gallant  officers  and  soldiers 
who  had  followed  him  to  victory,  and  now  joined  him  in 
adoration:  'General,  while  the  State  of  Louisiana,  in  the 
joyful  transports  of  her  gratitude,  hails  you  as  her  deliverer 
and  the  asserter  of  her  menaced  liberties;  while  grateful 
America,  so  lately  wrapped  up  in  anxious  suspense  on  the 
fate  of  this  important  city,  is  re-echoing  from  shore  to 
shore  your  splendid  achievements,  and  preparing  to  inscribe 
your  name  on  her  immortal  rolls,  among  those  of  her 
Washingtons;  while  history,  poetry,  and  the  monumental 
arts  will  vie  in  consigning  to  the  admiration  of  the  latest 
posterity  a  triumph  perhaps  unparalleled  in  their  records; 
while  thus  raised  by  universal  acclamation  to  the  very  pin- 
nacle of  fame,  how  easy  it  had  been  for  you,  General,  to 
forget  the  Prime  Mover  of  your  wonderful  successes,  and 
to  assume  to  yourself  a  praise  which  must  essentially  return 
to  that  excellent  source  whence  every  merit  is  derived. 
But,  better  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  true  glory,  and 
justly  placing  the  summit  of  your  ambition,  in  approving 
yourself  the  worthy  instrument  of  heaven's  merciful 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  331 

designs,  the  first  impulse  of  your  religious  heart  was  to 
acknowledge  the  interposition  of  Providence,  your  first 
step  a  solemn  display  of  your  humble  sense  of  his  favors. 
Still  agitated  at  the  remembrance  of  those  dreadful  agon- 
ies from  which  we  have  been  so  miraculously  rescued,  it  is 
our  pride  to  acknowledge  that  the  Almighty  has  truly  had 
the  principal  hand  in  our  deliverance,  and  to  follow  you, 
General,  in  attributing  to  his  infinite  goodness,  the  homage 
of  our  unfeigned  gratitude.  Let  the  infatuated  votary  of 
a  blind  chance  deride  our  credulous  simplicity ;  let  the  cold- 
hearted  atheist  look  for  the  explanation  of  important  events 
to  the  mere  concatenation  of  human  causes ;  to  us  the  whole 
universe  is  loud  in  proclaiming  a  Supreme  Ruler  who,  as 
he  holds  the  hearts  of  men  in  his  hand,  holds  also  the  thread 
of  all  contingent  occurrences. 

"  'To  him,  therefore,  our  most  fervent  thanks  are  due  for 
our  late  unexpected  rescue.  It  is  Him  we  intend  to  praise, 
when  considering  you,  General,  as  the  man  of  his  right 
hand,  whom  he  has  taken  pains  to  fit  out  for  the  important 
commission  of  our  defense.  We  extol  that  fecundity  of 
genius  by  which,  under  the  most  discouraging  distress,  you 
created  unforeseen  resources;  raised,  as  it  were,  from  the 
ground  hosts  of  intrepid  warriors,  and  provided  every  vul- 
nerable point  with  ample  means  of  defense.  To  Him  we 
trace  that  instinctive  superiority  of  your  mind,  which  at 
once  rallied  around  you  universal  confidence;  impressed 
one  irresistible  movement  to  all  the  jarring  elements  of 
which  this  political  machine  is  composed;  aroused  their 
slumbering  spirits,  and  diffused  through  every  rank  the 
noble  ardor  which  glowed  in  your  bosom.  To  Him,  in 
fine,  we  address  our  acknowledgments  for  that  consum- 
mate prudence  which  defeated  all  the  combinations  of  a 
sagacious  enemy,  entangled  him  in  the  very  snares  which 
he  had  spread  for  us,  and  succeeded  in  effecting  his  utter 
destruction  without  exposing  the  lives  of  our  citizens. 
Immortal  thanks  be  to  His  Supreme  Majesty  for  sending 
us  such  an  instrument  of  his  bountiful  designs.  A  gift  of 
that  value  is  the  best  token  of  the  continuance  of  his  pro- 
tection, the  most  solid  encouragement  to  sue  for  new  favors. 
The  first,  which  it  emboldens  us  humbly  to  supplicate,  as 
nearest  our  throbbing  hearts,  is  that  you  may  long  enjoy 


332  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  honor  of  your  grateful  country ;  of  which  you  will  per- 
mit us  to  present  you  a  pledge,  in  this  wreath  of  laurel,  the 
prize  of  victory,  the  symbol  of  immortality.  The  next  is 
a  speedy  and  honorable  termination  of  the  bloody  contest 
in  which  we  are  engaged.  No  one  has  so  efficaciously 
labored  as  you,  General,  for  the  acceleration  of  that  blissful 
period;  may  we  soon  reap  that  sweetest  fruit  of  your 
splendid  and  uninterrupted  victories.'  " 

The  General  thus  replied  to  this  solemn  and  impressive 
address.  His  allusion  to  the  "cypress  leaf,"  a  symbol  of 
grief  and  woe,  is  inimitably  fine.  Cypress  groves  were 
constantly  in  view  of  the  rival  armies  during  their  sanguin- 
ary conflicts,  and  they  will  hereafter  remind  Englishmen 
of  the  carnage  committed  amongst  his  infatuated  country- 
men invading  our  soil  by  the  gallant  armies  of  the  Republic 
in  defending  it : 

"Reverend  Sir:  I  receive  with  gratitude  and  pleasure 
the  symbol  crown  which  piety  has  prepared.  I  receive  it 
in  the  name  of  the  brave  men  who  so  effectually  seconded 
my  exertions;  they  well  deserve  the  laurels  which  their 
country  will  bestow. 

"For  myself  to  have  been  instrumental  in  the  deliverance 
of  such  a  country  is  the  greatest  blessing  that  heaven  could 
confer.  That  it  has  been  effected  with  so  little  loss ;  that  so 
few  tears  should  cloud  the  smiles  of  our  triumph,  and  not  a 
cypress  leaf  be  interwoven  in  the  wreath  which  you  present, 
is  a  source  of  the  most  exquisite  pleasure.  I  thank  you, 
reverend  sir,  most  sincerely  for  the  prayers  which  you  offer 
up  for  my  happiness.  May  those  your  patriotism  dictates 
for  our  beloved  country  be  first  heard;  and  may  mine,  for 
your  individual  prosperity,  as  well  as  that  of  the  congrega- 
tion committed  to  your  care,  be  favorably  received;  the 
prosperity,  wealth  and  happiness  of  this  city  will  then  be 
commensurate  with  the  courage  and  other  qualities  of  its 
inhabitants." 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  333 

Here  is  a  man  whose  burning  patriotism  and  heroic 
courage  prompted  the  dismissal  of  surgeons  when  bloody 
wounds  had  scarcely  been  staunched,  and  took  command 
of  an  army  that  came  at  his  own  bidding  and  destroyed  the 
British  ally,  the  great  Creek  nation,  in  five  pitched  battles; 
then  turned  on  another  ally  in  disguise,  a  Spanish  province, 
making  it  sue  for  peace — all  his  own  work;  then  when  his 
Government  in  its  dreadful  extremity  could  not  spare  him 
even  a  pretext  for  an  army ;  who  himself  raised  an  army  of 
volunteers  and  gained  a  victory  over  one  of  the  best  armies 
England  ever  sent  to  the  field ;  saved  a  great  American  city 
from  spoilation,  with  all  that  comes  to  helpless  women 
when  in  the  hands  of  civilized  men  with  the  habits  of  bar- 
barians; and  at  the  same  time  saved  the  whole  nation  from 
humiliation,  which  it  had  almost  reached  through  defeat. 

Suppose,  under  some  strange,  uncovered,  lurking  spirit 
of  unfriendliness  the  Government,  whose  honor  this  one 
man  saved,  has  for  eighty-five  years  been  persistently 
unmindful  of  the  obligation  due  his  name,  what  is  Tennes- 
see going  to  do? 

Will  not  Tennessee  proudly  build,  at  some  day,  a  monu- 
ment to  this  great  hero  and  the  brave  Tennessean  who 
saved  a  nation's  honor  and  made  the  very  name  of  Ten- 
nessee chivalric? 


334  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

AT  ONE  O'CLOCK  JACKSON  SAID,  "RISE;   THE  ENEMY  WILL 

BE  ON  US ;  I  MUST  GO  AND  SEE  COFFEE" CARROLL  WAS 

GIVEN  THE  CENTER ;  THE  ASSAULT  WAS  THEN  MADE 

PACKENHAM  WAS  KILLED;  GIBBS  TOOK  HIS  PLACE;  HE 
WAS  KILLED;    LAMBERT  TOOK  GIBBS'  PLACE  AND  WAS 

SHOT  FROM  HIS  HORSE THE  ACCOUNTS  GIVEN  BY  THE 

BRITISH  OFFICERS THE  ATTACK  ON  CARROLL'S  LINES 

MUCH   LIKE  NAPOLEON'S   ATTACK   ON   WELLINGTON'S 
RIGHT  WING. 

JACKSON  looked  at  his  watch.  It  was  past  one. 
"Gentlemen,"  said  he  to  his  dozing  aides,  "we  have 
slept  enough.  Rise.  The  enemy  will  be  upon  us  in 
a  few  minutes.  I  must  go  and  see  Coffee." 

This  is  not  the  introduction  to  a  story  of  fiction.  It  is 
exactly  what  was  said  by  the  hero  of  "Jackson  Day,"  when 
he  awoke  out  of  a  short  nap  at  one  o'clock  on  the  morning 
of  the  8th.  It  was  not  information  brought  by  an  express 
from  General  Morgan  that  the  fight  was  on;  the  express 
was  a  request  for  more  troops  on  the  right,  the  west  bank 
of  the  river.  On  the  evening  of  the  7th,  running  up  to  a 
late  hour  in  the  night,  Jackson's  vigilance  in  the  use  of 
scouting  and  reconnoitering  parties  had  put  him  in  full 
possession  of  the  enemy's  movements  for  the  coming  day. 
With  him  "the  hour  has  come."  All  had  been  done  that 
could  be,  and  he  was  so  constituted  that  when  duty  was 
performed,  courage  and  confidence,  trusting  in  Providence, 
made  him  serene,  no  matter  what  was  threatened. 

Long  before  day  his  army  was  in  line  of  battle,  every 
command  falling  in  its  place  with  a  regularity  that  would 
have  marked  the  movements  of  trained  soldiers.  That 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  335 

each  command  knew  its  place  is  attested  by  an  accident 
which  occurred  after  the  battle,  the  hapless  fate  of  a  deser- 
ter from  Jackson's  army.  On  the  evening  before  the  battle 
a  deserter  went  over  to  the  enemy  and  become  the  confi- 
dant of  the  officers  in  command  as  to  Jackson's  line  of 
battle.  Information  as  to  the  weak  place  in  the  line  was 
greatly  desired,  for  it  was  the  concensus  of  opinion  with 
the  commanding  officers  that  with  Jackson's  line  once 
broken  the  victory  was  won. 

The  deserter  gave  the  information  that  Jackson  was 
massing  his  troops  on  the  wings,  believing  the  attempt 
would  be  a  flank  movement;  and  to  prove  this,  he  said,  the 
center  was  to  be  defended  by  some  poorly  armed,  raw 
militia,  with  ragged  clothes,  and  wearing  coon  and  fox-skin 
caps. 

When  the  battle  commenced  Jackson,  sure  enough,  had 
Carroll's  coon  and  fox  hunters  wearing  the  sign  of  the 
backwoods  on  their  heads,  with  Adair's  ragged  Kentuck- 
ians,  scarcely  armed  at  all,  for  a  support.  So  General 
Packenham,  whether  because  of  this  information  or  not, 
concentrated  his  best  troops  on  the  center,  confident  of 
breaking  the  line.  After  the  battle  was  over  the  British 
took  up  this  deserter  and  hung  him  as  a  spy,  for  being  sent 
by  General  Jackson  to  mislead  them  into  a  trap  which  the 
General  had  set  for  them. 

All  the  accounts  of  the  attack  from  British  sources,  show 
that  while  Jackson's  army  came  to  its  work  at  the  opening 
of  the  battle  in  perfect  order,  the  British  army  came  in  great 
confusion,  and  there  are  facts  indicating  what  I  have  so 
often  said  in  these  chapters — that  by  the  battles  of  the  23d 
and  28th  of  December  and  the  ist  of  January,  and  includ- 
ing Jackson's  mode  of  harrassing  the  enemy  at  night,  he 
had  the  enemy  whipped  before  he  fought  the  final  battle. 
To  illustrate,  Colonel  Mullins,  in  command  of  the  Forty- 
fourth  Regiment,  after  orders  had  been  given  and  his  posi- 


336  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

tion  taken,  said :  "My  regiment  has  been  ordered  to  execu- 
tion; their  dead  bodies  are  to  be  used  as  a  bridge  for  the 
rest  of  the  army  to  march  over."  This  officer  after  the  war 
was  cashiered,  and  on  his  trial  the  facts  came  out.  It  was 
his  regiment  that  was  ordered  to  carry  to  the  front  the 
fascines  and  ladders  for  crossing  the  ditch  and  scaling  Jack- 
son's mud  bank,  as  the  British  officers  called  it  when  pre- 
paring for  the  attack.  His  failure  to  bring  them  up  was 
one  of  the  grounds  of  his  arrest. 

But  Colonel  Dale,  colonel  of  the  Forty-Third — the  pray- 
ing Highlanders,  the  most  distinguished  of  all  the  regi- 
ments in  the  army  for  fighting — on  moving  his  regiment 
into  position,  and  when  asked  by  the  physician  of  his  regi- 
ment, "What  do  you  think  of  it  ?"  made  no  reply  in  words, 
but  giving  the  doctor  his  watch  and  letter  said :  "Give  these 
to  my  wife;  I  shall  die  at  the  head  of  my  regiment." 

Captain  Cook,  of  the  British  army,  who  had  been  thrown 
out,  but  was  getting  into  position  just  before,  says,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  opening  scene  of  the  battle : 

"The  mist  was  slowly  clearing  off  and  objects  could  only 
be  discerned  at  200  or  300  yards  distant,  as  the  morning 
was  rather  hazy.  We  had  only  quitted  the  battery  ten 
minutes  when  a  congreve  rocket  was  thrown  up,  but 
whether  from  the  enemy  or  not  we  could  not  tell ;  for  some 
seconds  it  whizzed  backwards  and  forwards  in  such  a  zig- 
zag way  that  we  all  looked  up  to  see  whether  it  was  coming 
down  upon  our  heads.  The  troops  simultaneously  halted, 
but  all  smiled  at  some  sailors  dragging  a  two-wheeled  car 
a  hundred  yards  to  our  left,  which  had  brought  up  ammu- 
nition to  the  battery,  who,  by  common  consent,  as  it  were, 
let  go  the  shaft,  and  let  go  the  instant  the  rocket  was  let  off. 
(This  rocket,  although  we  did  not  know  it,  proved  to  be  the 
signal  to  begin  the  attack.)  All  eyes  were  cast  upward, 
like  those  of  so  many  philosophers,  to  descry,  if  possible, 
what  would  be  the  upshot  of  this  noisy  harbinger  breaking 
in  upon  the  silence  that  reigned  around.  During  all  my 
military  service  I  never  remember  a  body  of  troops  thrown 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  337 

at  once  into  such  a  strange  configuration,  having  formed 
themselves  into  a  circle  and  halted,  both  officers  and  men, 
without  any  previous  word  of  command,  each  man  looking 
earnestly  as  if  by  the  instinct  of  his  own  imagination,  to  see 
in  what  particualr  quarter  the  anticipated  firing  would 
begin." 

And  here  is  what  Captain  Cook  said,  in  his  own  words, 
about  what  was  taking  place  in  less  than  thirty  minutes 
after  the  battle  was  commenced : 

"The  echo  from  the  cannonade  and  musketry  was  so  tre- 
mendous in  the  forests  that  the  vibration  seemed  as  if  the 
earth  were  cracking  and  tumbling  to  pieces,  or  as  if  the 
heavens  were  rent  asunder  by  the  most  terrific  peals  of  thun- 
der that  ever  rumbled;  it  was  the  most  awful  and  grandest 
mixture  of  sounds  to  be  conceived;  the  woods  seemed  to 
crack  to  an  interminable  distance;  each  cannon  report  was 
answered  one  hundred  fold,  and  produced  an  intermingled 
roar  surpassing  strange.  And  this  phenomenon  can  neither 
be  fancied  nor  described,  save  by  those  who  can  bear  evi- 
dence of  the  fact.  The  flashes  of  fire  looked  as  if  coming 
out  of  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  so  little  above  its  surface 
were  the  batteries  of  the  Americans.  We  had  run  the 
gauntlet  from  the  left  to  the  center,  in  front  of  the  Ameri- 
can lines,  under  a  cross-fire,  in  hopes  of  joining  in  the 
assault,  and  had  a  fine  view  of  the  sparkling  musketry  and 
the  liquid  flashes  from  the  cannon.  And,  melancholy  to 
relate,  all  at  once  many  soldiers  were  met,  wildly  rushing 
out  of  the  dense  clouds  of  smoke,  lighted  up  by  a  sparkling 
sheet  of  fire  which  hovered  over  the  ensanguined  field. 
Regiments  were  shattered,  broken  and  dispersed;  all  order 
was  at  an  end.  And  the  dismal  spectacle  was  seen  of  the 
dark  shadows  of  men,  like  skirmishers,  breaking  out  of  the 
clouds  of  smoke  which  slowly  and  majestically  rolled  along 
the  even  surface  of  the  field.  And  so  astonished  was  I  at 
such  a  panic  that  I  said  to  a  retiring  soldier,  'Have  we  or 
the  Americans  attacked?'  for  I  had  never  seen  troops  in 
such  a  hurry  without  being  followed.  'No/  replied  the 
man,  with  the  countenance  of  despair  and  out  of  breath,  as 


338  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

he  ran  along,  'we  attacked,  sir.'  Still  the  reverberation 
was  so  intense  towards  the  great  wood  that  any  one  would 
have  thought  the  great  fighting  was  going  on  there  instead 
of  immediately  in  front. 

"Lieut.  Duncan  Campbell,  of  our  regiment,  was  seen  to 
our  left,  running  about  in  circles,  first  staggering  one  way, 
then  another,  and  at  length  fell  on  the  sod,  helpless  upon 
his  face,  and  in  this  state  several  times  recovered  his  legs 
and  again  tumbled,  and  when  picked  up  was  found  to  be 
blind  from  the  effects  of  a  grape  shot  that  had  torn  open 
his  forehead,  giving  him  a  slight  wound  in  the  leg,  and  had 
also  ripped  the  scabbard  from  his  side  and  knocked  the  cap 
from  his  head.  While  being  borne  insensible  to  the  rear, 
he  still  clenched  the  hilt  of  his  sword  with  a  convulsive 
grasp,  the  blade  thereof  being  broken  off  close  at  the  hilt 
with  grape  shot,  and  in  a  state  of  delirium  and  suffering  he 
lived  for  a  few  days. 

"The  first  officer  we  met  was  Lieutenant  Colonel  Stovin, 
of  the  staff,  who  was  unhorsed,  without  his  pack,  and  bleed- 
ing down  the  left  side  of  his  face.  He  at  first  thought  that 
the  200  men  were  the  whole  regiment,  and  he  said :  'Forty- 
Third,  for  God's  sake,  save  the  day!'  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Smith,  of  the  rifles,  and  one  of  the  Packenham  staff,  then 
rode  up  at  full  gallop  from  the  right  (he  had  a  few  months 
before  brought  to  England  the  dispatches  of  the  capture  of 
Washington)  and  said  to  me,  'Did  you  ever  see  such  a 
scene?  There  is  nothing  left  but  the  Seventh  and  Forty- 
Third.  Just  draw  up  here  for  a  few  minutes  and  show 
front  that  the  repulsed  troops  may  reform.'  For  the 
chances  were  now,  as  the  greater  portion  of  the  actually 
attacking  corps  were  stricken  down  and  the  remainder  dis- 
persed, that  the  Americans  would  become  the  assailants. 
The  ill-fated  rocket  was  discharged  before  the  British 
troops  moved  on.  The  consequence  was  that  every  Ameri- 
can was  warned  by  such  a  silly  signal,  to  be  laid  on  the 
parapets,  ready  to  be  discharged  to  the  fullest  effect. 

"The  misty  field  of  battle  was  now  inundated,  and 
wounded  officers  and  soldiers  were  going  to  the  rear  from 
the  right,  left  and  center;  in  fact,  little  more  than  1,000  sol- 
diers were  left  unscathed  out  of  the  3,000  that  attacked  the 
American  lines  (meaning  the  center),  and  they  fell  like  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  339 

very  blade  of  grass  beneath  the  sides  of  the  mower.  Pack- 
enham  was  killed,  Gibbs  was  mortally  wounded  and  his 
brigade  dispersed  like  the  dust  before  the  whirlwind,  and 
Keane  was  wounded.  The  command  of  his  Majesty's 
forces  at  this  critical  juncture  now  fell  to  Major  General 
Lambert,  the  only  general  left,  and  who  was  in  reserve  with 
his  fine  brigade." 

And  here  is  what  Captain  Hill  says  of  the  first  repulse  by 
Carroll's  troops,  and  which  is  put  at  twenty-five  minutes 
after  the  attack  was  made : 

"Hastily  galloping  to  the  scene  of  confusion,  we  found 
the  men  falling  back  in  great  numbers.  Every  possible 
means  was  used  to  rally  them.  A  majority  of  those  retreat- 
ing were  wounded,  and  all  complained  that  not  a  fascine  or 
ladder  had  been  brought  to  the  front  to  enable  them  to  cross 
the  ditch. 

"Just  at  this  time  General  Packenham  rode  up  from  his 
post  in  the  rear  and  strove  to  restore  them  to  order,  and 
said,  'JFor  shame ;  recollect  you  are  British  soldiers.' " 

The  "Life  of  Jackson,"  written  by  Eaton  and  Reid,  the 
latter  of  whom  was  Jackson's  aide  and  with  him  in  the  bat- 
tle, gives  this  account  of  the  attack  on  Carroll's  line : 

"The  British  batteries,  which  had  been  demolished  on  the 
ist  of  the  month,  had  been  re-established  on  the  preceding 
night,  and  heavy  pieces  of  cannon  mounted  to  aid  in  their 
intended  operations.  These  now  opened  and  showers  of 
bombs  and  balls  were  poured  upon  our  line,  while  the  air 
was  lighted  with  their  congreve  rockets.  The  two  divis- 
ions, commanded  by  Sir  Edward  Packenham  in  person  and 
supported  by  Generals  Keane  and  Gibbs,  pressed  forward, 
the  right  against  the  center  of  General  Carroll's  command, 
the  left  against  our  redoubt  on  the  levee.  A  thick  fog,  that 
obscured  the  morning,  enabled  them  to  approach  within  a 
short  distance  of  our  entrenchment  before  they  were  dis- 
covered. They  were  now  perceived  advancing  with  firm, 


340  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

quick,  and  steady  pace,  in  column,  with  the  front  of  sixty 
or  seventy  deep.  Our  troops,  who  had  for  some  time  been 
in  readiness  and  waiting  their  appearance,  gave  three  cheers, 
and  instantly  the  whole  line  was  lighted  with  the  blaze  of 
their  fire.  A  burst  of  artillery  and  small  arms,  pouring 
with  destructive  aim  upon  them,  mowed  down  their  front 
and  arrested  their  advance.  In  our  musketry  there  was  not 
a  moment's  intermission.  As  one  party  discharged  their 
pieces,  another  succeeded,  alternately  loading  and  appear- 
ing; no  pause  could  be  perceived — it  was  one  continued 
volley.  The  columns  already  perceived  their  dangerous 
and  exposed  situation.  Battery  No.  7,  on  the  left,  was  ably 
served  by  Lieutenant  Spotts,  and  galled  them  with  an  inces- 
sant and  destructive  fire.  Batteries  Nos.  6  and  8  were  no 
less  actively  employed,  and  no  less  successful  in  felling 
them  to  the  ground.  Notwithstanding  the  severity  of  our 
fire,  which  few  troops  for  a  moment  could  have  withstood, 
some  of  these  brave  men  pressed  on  and  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing the  ditch  in  front  of  our  works,  where  they  remained 
during  the  action,  and  were  afterwards  made  prisoners. 
The  horror  before  them  was  too  great  to  be  withstood,  and 
already  were  the  British  troops  seen  wavering  in  their  deter- 
mination and  receding  from  the  conflict. 

"At  this  moment  Sir  Edward  Packenham,  hastening  to 
the  front,  endeavored  to  encourage  and  inspire  them  with 
renewed  zeal.  His  example  was  of  short  continuance;  he 
soon  fell  mortally  wounded,  in  the  arms  of  his  aide-de- 
camp, not  far  from  our  line.  General  Gibbs  and  General 
Keane  also  fell,  and  were  borne  from  the  field  dangerously 
wounded.  At  this  moment  General  Lambert,  who  was 
advancing  at  a  small  distance  in  the  rear  with  the  reserve, 
met  the  columns  precipitately  retreating  and  in  great  con- 
fusion. His  efforts  to  stop  them  were  unavailing — they 
continued  retreating  until  they  reached  the  ditch,  at  the 
distance  of  400  yards,  where,  a  momentary  safety  being 
found,  they  were  rallied  and  halted. 

"The  field  before  them,  over  which  they  had  advanced, 
was  strewn  with  the  dead  and  dying.  Danger  hovered  still 
around;  yet,  urged  and  encouraged  by  their  officers,  who 
feared  their  own  disgrace  involved  in  the  failure,  they  again 
moved  to  the  charge.  They  were  already  near  enough  to 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  341 

deploy,  and  were  endeavoring  to  do  so,  but  the  same  con- 
stant and  unremitted  resistance  that  had  caused  their  first 
retreat  continued  yet  unabated.  Our  batteries  had  never 
ceased  their  fire.  Their  constant  discharges  of  grape  and 
canister  and  the  fatal  aim  of  our  musketry  mowed  down  the 
front  of  the  columns  as  fast  as  they  could  be  formed. 

"Satisfied  nothing  could  be  done,  and  that  certain 
destruction  awaited  still  further  attempts,  they  forsook  the 
contest  and  the  field  in  disorder,  leaving  it  almost  entirely 
covered  with  the  dead  and  the  wounded.  It  was  in  vain 
their  officers  endeavored  to  animate  them  to  further  resist- 
ance and  equally  vain  to  attempt  coercion. 

"The  panic  produced  from  the  dreadful  repulse  they 
had  experienced;  the  plain,  on  which  they  had  acted,  being 
covered  with  innumerable  bodies  of  their  countrymen; 
while,  with  their  most  zealous  exertions,  they  had  been 
unable  to  obtain  the  slightest  advantage,  were  circumstan- 
ces well  calculated  to  make  even  the  most  submissive 
soldier  to  oppose  the  authority  that  would  have  controlled 
him." 

The  British  officers  who  witnessed  the  battle  and  have 
written  about  it  —  men  like  Cook,  Hill,  and  the  "Subaltern" 
— have  given  substantially  the  same  account  of  it  that  Reid 
and  the  author  of  "Jackson  and  New  Orleans,"  who  saw 
it,  have;  and  taking  all  that  is  said,  it  was  a  battle  lasting 
from  the  23d  of  December,  1814,  to  the  8th  of  January, 
1815,  and  instead  of  one  never-to-be-forgotten  day,  it  was 
a  continuous  battle  lasting  over  that  period,  including  both 
the  23d  and  8th,  making  fifteen  days  and  every  night. 

Jackson  said  at  two  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the  23d, 
when  the  young  Creole  brought  him  the  news  that  the 
British  had  landed  at  the  head  of  Lake  Borgne:  "They 
shan't  sleep  on  our  soil;  we  will  fight  them  tonight." 
Immortal  words! 

And,  according  to  the  "Subaltern,"  they  never  had  one 
night's  sleep  until  they  got  back  to  their  ships.  Jackson 
organized  night  bands,  made  up  of  tried  men;  had' them, 


342  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

in  the  dead  of  night,  stealthily  approach  each  other  from 
different  parts  of  his  army,  sometimes  with  only  rifles,  but 
sometimes  with  a  cannon,  and  then  organize,  kill  or  run  in 
their  pickets,  then  shoot  into  the  camp,  arousing  the  whole 
army,  with  no  more  sleep  for  the  night,  and  this  was  so 
varied  as  to  keep  the  British  army  in  a  state  of  consternation 
during  the  entire  fifteen  days. 

In  some  respects  the  series  of  attacks  on  Jackson's  lines 
resemble  the  series  of  assaults  made  by  Napoleon  on  Wel- 
lington's right  wing,  or  solid  square,  at  the  battle  of  Wat- 
erloo, the  difference  being  that,  while  Napoleon  was  trying 
to  break  the  line,  a  solid  square  on  the  right,  knowing  that 
unless  the  line  could  be  broken  the  day  was  lost,  just  as 
Packenham  was  trying  to  break  the  Jackson  line,  believing 
that  to  break  the  line  was  to  win  the  battle.  The  difference 
is  that  Napoleon's  assault  was  made  and  repeated  through 
one  entire  day  only,  while  Packenham's  assaults  on  Jack- 
son's line  lasted  fifteen  days.  Instead  of  the  American 
people  having  one  grand  holiday  in  honor  of  Jackson's  vic- 
tory on  the  8th,  they  should  have  a  sort  of  Lent,  running 
over  the  fifteen  days,  in  memory  of  the  men  that  for  these 
days  willingly  offered  their  lives  for  their  country,  and 
made  the  welkin  ring  with  three  cheers  from  one  end  of  the 
line  to  the  other  when  old  England's  army  came  in  sight  at 
the  final  struggle.  There  should  be  fifteen  days  of  thank- 
fulness to  Almighty  God  for  his  providence  in  delivering 
us  from  the  humiliation  of  defeat  and  subjugation  by  a 
nation  that  long  since  decided  that  the  rights  of  all  people 
can,  so  far  as  it  is  concerned,  only  be  determined  by  the 
size  and  number  of  its  guns. 

But  to  the  battle.  It's  a  short  story.  General  Gibbs' 
division  of  3,000  men  was  sent  to  the  extreme  right  (Jack- 
son's left),  evidently  to  do  what  Jackson  anticipated  when 
he  put  Coffee  with  his  Tennessee  troops  in  the  swamps  to 
prevent  the  flank  movement;  but,  for  some  reason,  prob- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  343 

ably  finding  that  the  fortifications  had  been  extended  into 
the  swamp,  or  perhaps  under  orders  to  unite  all  forces  to 
break  the  center,  General  Gibbs  was  soon  in  person  at  the 
center,  as  if,  for  the  moment,  all  thought  of  everything  was 
abandoned  except  to  break  through  at  the  point  believed  to 
be  the  weakest.  General  Packenham  himself  was  in  com- 
mand. As  the  fog  cleared  away,  it  being  now  good  day- 
light, when  the  front  of  the  column,  sixty  to  seventy  men 
deep,  could  be  seen,  only  a  few  hundred  yards  away.  Car- 
roll's men  gave  three  cheers,  and  the  half-clad  and  poorly- 
armed  Kentuckians'  Carroll's  support  in  the  rear,  gave  three 
cheers,  but  not  a  gun  was  fired.  Carroll,  like  Jackson, 
was  always  with  his  troops  in  a  critical  moment.  Carroll 
had  given  strict  orders.  The  soldiers,  the  men  wearing 
home-made  clothes  and  caps  made  of  coon  skins,  kept  one 
eye  on  the  advancing  enemy  and  one  on  Carroll — men  and 
guns  ready,  and  as  cool  as  if  at  a  deer  stand  as  the  antler 
bounds  in  sight,  unconscious  of  his  fate. 

When  the  time  came  Carroll  gave  the  command.  It  rang 
down  the  line.  The  command  was,  "Fire!" 

One  who  witnessed  it  described  the  scene,  and  here  is 
what  he  says: 

"At  first,  with  a  certain  deliberation;  afterwards  in  hot- 
test haste;  always  with  deadly  effect,  the  riflemen  plied 
their  terrible  weapons.  The  summit  of  the  embankment 
was  a  line  of  spurting  fire,  except  where  the  great  guns 
showed  their  liquid,  belching  flash.  The  noise  was  peculiar 
and  altogether  indescribable — a  rolling,  bursting,  echoing 
noise,  never  to  be  forgotten  by  a  man  who  heard  it.  Along 
the  whole  line  it  blazed  and  rolled,  the  British  batteries 
showering  rockets  over  the  scene,  Patterson's  batteries  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river  joining  in  the  hellish  concert. 
Ask  on  one  to  describe  it.  Our  words  were  mostly  made 
before  such  a  scene  had  become  possible." 


344  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

There  was  confusion  before  the  assault  was  made, 
described  by  the  British  officers  who  wrote  it  up,  on  account 
of  Colonel  Mullins,  the  Forty-fourth  Regiment,  with  the 
ladders  and  fascines,  not  coming  up,  until  General  Gibbs, 
who  had  taken  command  and  was  now  at  the  heads  of  the 
columns,  shouted,  "Here  comes  the  Forty-fourth;"  adding, 
in  an  undertone,  as  was  shown  on  the  trial  of  Mullins,  "If 
I  live  till  tomorrow  I  will  hang  Mullins  on  the  highest  tree 
in  the  cypress  swamp." 

Under  the  terrible  fire  from  Carroll's  riflemen  and  the 
heavy  guns  that  had  been  well  placed  along  the  line,  this 
column,  bravely  led  by  Gibbs,  steadily  moved  forward. 
Along  both  lines  of  opposing  armies  it  was  one  continued 
roar,  that  fairly  shook  the  earth.  The  British  officers,  as 
well  as  all  their  writers,  had  confidently  believed  that  by 
such  an  assault  by  regulars  Jackson's  raw  militia  would 
give  way  and  the  victory  would  be  won,  and  it  is  but  fair  to 
say  that  any  European  general  would  have  come  to  the 
same  conclusion. 

But  the  slaughter  of  this  advancing  column  by  raw 
militia  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  war's  record.  It  was  the 
spirit  of  Jackson,  the  man  who  had  never  known  fear ;  who 
was  as  cool  as  when  Dickerson  shot  him  through  the  body 
as  he  was  when  he  said,  "They  shan't  sleep  on  our  soil;  we 
will  fight  them  tonight."  He  had  a  power  over  men  that 
will  never  be  known  until  the  mystery  of  mind  over  mind 
will  be  more  fully  revealed.  He  made  all  men  chivalrous; 
his  presence  was  omnipresence.  His  presence  infused  his 
spirit  in  the  army  and  all  who  came  in  reach  of  it.  There 
was  a  power  beyond  magnetism.  It  was  a  divinity  that  the 
great  God  had  imparted  to  him  as  a  commander  of  men, 
that  may  be  unfolded  in  the  future,  in  the  advancing  science 
of  psychology,  or  in  the  opening  vision  of  the  hereafter. 

When  he  said  to  the  brave  commander  at  Fort  Bowyer 
and  his  men,  "At  any  sacrifice  the  British  ships  must  be  kept 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  345 

out  of  the  Bay,"  the  men  came  together  and  entered  into  a 
solemn  pledge,  one  with  the  other,  that  when  the  fort  was 
shot  away  their  bodies  should  be  there,  dead  or  alive;  and 
after  it  was  all  over  and  Jackson  came  to  the  fort,  the 
answer  was,  like  the  God-protected  prisoners  in  jail,  "We 
are  still  here" — part  dead,  part  alive,  but  they  were  all 
there. 

And  when  he  put  Captain  Overton  in  command  at  Fort 
Phillips  and  told  him  not  to  surrender,  the  Captain  took  the 
flag  and  nailed  it  so  high  that  it  could  not  be  pulled  down, 
which  meant  no  surrender,  and  when  the  struggle  ended 
the  flag  was  still  nailed  up  and  not  a  gunboat  had  passed 
up  the  Mississippi. 

And  when  he  said  to  Coffee  and  Carroll,  "Go  back  to 
Tennessee  and  raise  me  an  army  for  New  Orleans,"  they 
went.  Jackson's  name  was  enough ;  the  army  came. 

And  when  he  said  to  the  women  and  children  of  New 
Orleans,  "These  invaders  shall  never  enter  your  city;  if 
they  do,  it  will  be  over  the  dead  bodies  of  me  and  all  my 
soldiers,"  it  was  accepted  as  the  solemn  pledge  of  every 
man  in  the  army. 

The  part  of  the  line  attacked,  Carroll's  command,  had 
been  thoroughly  drilled.  They  were  not  shooting  at  the 
British  as  an  army ;  they  were  shooting  under  orders — each 
at  the  man  that  seemed  to  be  in  front.  So  dreadful  was 
the  slaughter  with  the  advancing  column  that  the  author 
of  "Jackson  and  New  Orleans"  says  one  could  walk  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  on  dead  bodies  when  the  retreat  commenced. 
Just  twenty-five  minutes  after  the  first  gun  General  Pack- 
enham  rode  to  the  front  to  rally  the  men.  His  horse  was 
shot  and  his  arm  shattered.  Mounting  another  horse,  he 
was  riddled,  and  died  in  a  few  minutes  under  a  tree  that  is 
still  standing.  Major  General  Gibbs  took  his  place  and 
rode  to  the  front.  He  was  instantly  shot  from  his  horse 
and  died.  The  remaining  Major  General,  Keane,  took 


346  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

command,  and  he  was  shot  off  his  horse,  was  taken  to  the 
rear  terribly  wounded,  but  recovered.  Then  General  Lam- 
bert, who  had  but  recently  reached  the  army,  came  with  the 
reserve,  with  his  1,700  men  who  had  been  held  for  an  emer- 
gency. This  fine  command  moved  up  with  steady  step,  in 
front  of  which  was  the  old  guard,  1,000  men,  making  2,700. 
The  old  guard  was  the  praying  Highlanders,  led  by  the  gal- 
lant Col.  D.  Dale.  This  regiment,  which  had  followed 
Wellington  in  Spain  and  across  the  Pyrennes  and  fought  in 
many  battles,  for  some  reason  halted  as  they  approached 
Carroll's  line.  Their  brave  colonel  was  killed,  as  he  said 
he  would  be,  at  the  head  of  the  command,  and  with  him 
544  of  his  command  were  left  on  the  field  dead  or  wounded. 
Like  all  the  other  commands  that  had  faced  Carroll's  Ten- 
nesseans,  the  remnant  of  the  praying  Highlanders,  with 
Lambert's  reserve,  was  soon  in  full  retreat. 

On  the  Qth,  the  day  after  the  battle,  Jackson  reported  to 
the  Secretary  of  War  that  the  enemy  had  left  1,500  dead 
and  wounded  on  the  field ;  but  on  the  loth  he  made  a  second 
report  that,  on  getting  fuller  reports,  he  found  the  dead 
and  wounded  amounted  to  2,600. 

(The  story  of  this  battle  is  only  half  told.  It  will  be 
concluded  in  the  next  chapter.) 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  347 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

DRIVING   THE    BRITISH    ARMY    TO    THEIR    SHIPS JACKSON 

RETURNED JACKSON'S     REWARD      FOR      HAVING     THE 

LEGISLATURE   GUARDED GENERAL  COFFEE  REPLIES  TO 

A  RESOLUTION   HONORING  HIM  AND  OTHER  OFFICERS 

MAJOR   OVERTON   IN   DEFENDING   FORT   PHILLIPS THE 

ENFORCEMENT  OF  MARTIAL  LAW NEWSPAPER  ATTACK 

BY  LOUILLIER HIS   ARREST THE  ARREST    OF  JUDGE 

HALL. 

AFTER  driving  the  British  back  to  the  sea,  they  hav- 
ing escaped  by  crowding  into  their  ships,   they 
remained,  seemingly  undecided  as  to  what  was  to 
be  done,  while  Jackson  returned  in  triumph,  as  shown  in 
the  last  preceding  chapter.     What  makes  Jackson's  life  a 
romance  beyond  that  of  the  life  of  any  other  one  of  the 
world's  great  generals,  as  it  is  believed  it  is,  is  its  conflicts 
without  a  break  in  its  triumphs.     From  infancy  to  the 
grave,  his  life  was  a  struggle.    Disease  and  personal  injur- 
ies ceased  only  when  the  grave  opened. 

That  General  Jackson  was  combative  in  a  sense  must  be 
conceded ;  that  he  maintained  the  right  as  he  saw  it,  in  both 
public  and  private  life,  fearless  of  consequences  in  a  degree 
that  scarcely  has  an  equal,  will  be  conceded  by  all  who  read 
his  character.  His  devotion  to  principle,  standing  by  the 
right,  coupled  with  a  love  of  country  and  regard  for  his 
personal  honor,  at  any  cost,  mark  him  as  among  the  high- 
est, if  not  the  highest,  type  as  a  citizen  among  our  public 
men. 

It  can  be  said  of  Andrew  Jackson,  and  will  not  be  denied 
by  any  close  student  of  his  career,  that  when  his  country  or 
his  personal  honor  was  involved,  his  life  did  not  weigh  a 


348  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

feather  in  shaping  his  course.  This  made  enemies,  and 
gave  him  the  reputation  of  being  combative.  Whoever 
hews  to  the  line,  whoever  stands  for  the  right  in  public  and 
private  life,  may  have  his  friends,  but  will  certainly  have 
his  enemies.  As  a  soldier,  his  conflicts  with  the  Govern- 
ment he  was  serving  would  signalize  his  disobedience  and 
consign  him  to  disgrace,  were  it  not  that  all  his  conflicts 
were  in  matters  vital  to  the  government,  and  in  which  he 
risked  all,  sometimes  his  life,  in  the  right  and  final  success 
of  his  disobedience,  and  in  every  instance  was  successful — 
so  successful  that  an  act  of  disobedience  came  finally  to 
make  a  prima  facie  case  of  right  which  stood  until  investi- 
gation proved  the  mistake. 

In  the  fearless  discharge  of  duty,  which  marked  every 
day  and  every  deed  of  this  great  hero's  life,  and  in  the  con- 
flicts which  this  heroism  brought,  nothing  is  more  striking 
than  what  came  into  his  life  at  the  time  of  his  triumphant 
entrance  into  the  city  that  he  had  saved  from  the  spoliation, 
rapine,  revenge  and  lust  which  had  marked  the  entrance 
into  the  cities  of  Spain,  as  well  as  the  entrance  into  the 
cities  of  the  Northern  States,  by  the  very  men  that  com- 
posed the  army  of  General  Packenham. 

Incensed  as  was  the  Legislature  of  Louisiana  at  the 
declaration  of  martial  law,  and  because  Jackson  had  ordered 
Governor  Claiborne  at  the  head  of  a  regiment  to  have  some 
soldiers  stand  guard  over  the  body  to  see  that  it  did  not 
undertake  to  surrender  the  city  while  he  was  keeping  the 
British  out,  the  shouts  of  a  rescued  people  on  Jackson's 
entrance  into  the  city  had  not  died  away  when  the  Legisla- 
ture passed  resolutions  complimenting  by  name  all  the 
officers  of  high  rank  in  the  army  except  the  General  in 
command.  The  list  included  Generals  Coffee,  Carroll, 
Thomas,  Adair,  Colonel  Hinds,  and  others.  To  empha- 
size the  intended  insult,  certified  copies  of  these  resolutions 
handsomely  done  up  were  sent  through  the  Governor  of  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  349 

State  to  the  respective  officers  so  complimented.  To  the 
copy  sent  that  gallant  officer,  General  Coffee,  who,  with 
his  men,  had  for  four  days  remained  in  the  swamp  and 
slept  on  brush  piles  to  keep  above  the  water,  he  sent  a  reply 
containing  a  well-merited  rebuke.  He  said:  "While  we 
indulge  the  pleasing  emotions  that  are  thus  produced,  we 
should  be  guilty  of  great  injustice,  as  well  to  merit  as  to 
our  own  feelings,  if  we  withheld  from  the  commander-in- 
chief,  to  whose  wisdom  and  exertions  we  are  so  much 
indebted  for  our  success,  the  expression  of  our  highest 
admiration  and  applause.  To  his  firmness,  his  skill  and  his 
gallantry,  to  that  confidence  and  unanimity  among  all  ranks 
produced  by  those  qualities,  we  must  chiefly  ascribe  the 
splendid  victories  in  which  we  esteem  it  a  happiness  and  an 
honor  to  have  borne  a  part." 

This  pussillanimous  attempt  to  minimize  the  deeds  and 
the  fame  of  the  city's  benefactor  and  the  successful 
defender  of  the  nation's  honor,  passed  without  notice  and 
without  a  word  by  General  Jackson.  A  few  days  after  this 
a  paragraph  appeared  in  the  Louisiana  Gazette  to  the  effect 
that  a  flag  had  just  arrived  from  Admiral  Cochrane  to 
General  Jackson,  officially  announcing  the  conclusion  of  a 
treaty  of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  the  British 
Commissioners  in  the  Netherlands,  and  requiring  a  suspen- 
sion of  arms.  There  was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  this  state- 
ment, and  General  Jackson  at  once  sent  to  the  editor  of  the 
paper  the  following  communication,  which  in  all  General 
Jackson's  political  contests  became  so  famous  as  his  auto- 
cratic muzzling  of  the  press : 

"SiR:  The  Commanding  General  having  seen  a  publica- 
tion which  issued  from  your  press  today,  stating  that  'a 
flag  had  just  arrived,'  etc.,  requires  that  you  will  hasten  to 
remove  any  improper  impression  which  so  unauthorized 
and  incorrect  a  statement  may  have  made. 

"No  request,  either  direct  or  virtual,  has  been  made  to 


350  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

him  by  the  commander  of  either  the  land  or  naval  forces 
of  Great  Britain  for  a  suspension  of  arms.  The  letter  of 
'Bathurst  to  the  Lord  Mayor/  which  furnishes  the  only 
official  information  that  has  been  communicated,  will  not 
allow  the  supposition  that  a  suspension  of  hostilities  is  meant 
or  expected,  until  the  treaty  signed  by  the  respective  com- 
missioners shall  have  received  the  ratification  of  the  Prince 
Regent  and  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

"The  Commanding  General  again  calls  upon  his  fellow- 
citizens  and  soldiers  to  recollect  that  it  is  yet  uncertain 
whether  the  articles  which  have  been  signed  at  Ghent  for 
the  re-establishment  of  peace  will  be  approved  by  those 
whose  approbation  is  necessary  to  give  efficiency  to  them. 
Until  that  approbation  is  given  and  properly  announced, 
he  would  be  wanting  to  the  important  interests  which  have 
been  confided  to  his  protection  if  he  permitted  any  relaxa- 
tion in  the  army  under  his  command.  How  disgraceful,  as 
well  as  disastrous,  would  it  be,  if,  by  surrendering  ourselves 
credulously  and  weakly  to  newspaper  publications — often 
proceeding  from  ignorance,  but  more  frequently  from  dis- 
honest designs — we  permitted  an  enemy,  whom  we  have  so 
lately  and  so  gloriously  beaten,  to  regain  the  advantages  he 
has  lost  and  triumph  over  us  in  turn. 

"The  general  order  issued  on  the  ipth  expresses  the  feel- 
ings, the  views,  and  the  hopes  which  the  Commanding 
General  still  entertains.  Henceforward,  it  is  expected  that 
no  publication  of  the  nature  of  that  herein  alluded  to  and 
censured  will  appear  in  any  paper  of  the  city,  unless  the 
editor  shall  have  previously  ascertained  its  correctness,  and 
gained  permission  for  its  insertion  from  the  proper  source." 


Let  it  be  remembered  that  up  to  this  time  the  British 
army  in  the  ships  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  River, 
while  safe  at  sea,  was  making  efforts  to  ascend  the  river, 
and  up  to  the  ipth  of  January  the  brave  Major  Overton, 
with  his  flag  nailed  up  so  it  could  not  come  down,  was 
fighting  a  fight  that  would  do  honor  to  any  sea  captain. 
Whether  the  attack  on  Fort  Phillips  meant  to  flank  him  or 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  351 

to  check  his  pursuit  of  the  fleeing  British,  it  was  a  condi- 
tion which  Jackson  could  not  shut  his  eyes  to. 

To  the  note  sent  the  editor  the  following  reply  was  made : 

"On  Tuesday  we  published  a  small  handbill,  containing 
such  information  as  we  had  conceived  correct,  respecting 
the  signing  of  preliminaries  of  peace  between  the  American 
and  British  Commissioners  at  Ghent.  We  have  since  been 
informed  from  the  headquarters  that  the  information 
therein  contained  is  incorrect,  and  we  have  been  ordered  to 
publish  the  following,  to  do  away  the  evil  that  might  arise 
from  our  imprudence.  Every  man  may  read  for  himself 
and  think  for  himself  (thank  God,  our  thoughts  are  as  yet 
unshackled),  but  as  we  have  been  officially  informed  that 
New  Orleans  is  a  camp,  our  readers  may  not  expect  us  to 
take  the  liberty  of  expressing  our  opinion  as  we  might  in  a 
free  city.  We  cannot  submit  to  have  a  censor  of  the  press 
in  our  office,  and  as  we  are  ordered  not  to  publish  any 
remarks  without  authority,  we  shall  submit  to  be  silent  until 
we  can  speak  with  safety — except  making  our  paper  a  sheet 
of  shreds  and  patches — a  mere  advertiser  for  our  mercantile 
friends." 

The  perilous  situation,  while  the  attempt  was  being  made 
to  pass  Fort  Phillips  and  ascend  the  river — indeed,  only  a 
great  victory,  but  the  war  not  ended — was  lost  sight  of  by 
the  members  of  the  Legislature  and  all  the  disloyal  element 
which  had  been  restrained  by  a  strictly  military  occupation 
of  the  city,  and  now  that  the  city  was  saved  from  rapine 
and  pillage,  this  element  demanded  that  all  restrictions 
should  be  promptly  removed. 

General  Jackson,  like  the  soldier  he  was,  looking  to  the 
real  situation,  and  confirmed  in  the  merit  of  restraint  on  the 
mongrel  population  which  now  threatened  disaster  and 
defeat  of  the  results  gained,  saw  at  once  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  intact  not  only  his  army,  but  his  power  over  the 
rebellious  element,  at  this  most  critical  moment.  Refusing 
to  rescind  the  order  declaring  martial  law,  the  vicious  ele- 


352  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

ment  became  boisterous  and  threatening.  The  hostility  was 
carried  to  the  extent  of  a  large  part  of  the  French  popu- 
lation, doubtless  under  a  suggestion  of  members  of  the 
Legislature,  taking  shelter  and  claiming  exemption  under 
the  French  Consul,  M.  Toussard,  and  the  French  to  a  great 
extent,  even  those  who  had  been  naturalized,  soon  had  their 
pockets  lined  with  free  papers  signed  by  this  Consul. 

It  was  this  extraordinary  condition  of  things  that  brought 
General  Jackson  up  to  the  imperative  duty,  not  of  declaring 
martial  law,  but  enforcing  it,  for  when  disloyalty  in  the 
Legislature  appeared,  he  had  declared  martial  law  to  pre- 
vent an  attempt  to  surrender  the  city.  This  brought  the 
conflict  that  has  taken  a  wider  range  than  any  other  judi- 
cial and  constitutional  question  that  has  been  raised  since 
the  Government  was  formed,  taxing  the  ability,  the  genius, 
of  the  great  lawyers  of  the  time,  and  of  both  Houses  of 
Congress,  and  of  politicians  of  all  parties,  until  the  ques- 
tion was  finally  settled  on  the  principle  announced  by 
General  Jackson  when  brought  before  the  court  at  the  time 
by  a  writ  of  contempt. 

The  discussion  in  one  shape  and  another  lasted  twenty- 
eight  years,  taxing  the  genius  of  Webster,  Calhoun,  Clay 
and  Benton,  together  with  the  leading  politicians  and  law- 
yers of  the  entire  country. 

But  to  proceed  with  the  history.  On  March  5th  the 
following  article  appeared  in  the  French  language  in  a  New 
Orleans  paper.  This  was  after  General  Jackson  had  ordered 
the  French  Consul  and  all  Frenchmen,  not  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  to  leave  the  city,  and  not  come  within  120 
miles  until  martial  law  was  declared  off: 

"Mr.  Editor:  To  remain  silent  on  the  last  general  orders, 
directing  all  the  Frenchmen  who  now  reside  in  New  Orleans 
to  leave  it  within  three  days,  and  to  keep  at  a  distance  of  120 
miles,  would  be  an  act  of  cowardice  which  ought  not  to  be 
expected  from  a  citizen  of  a  free  country;  and  when  every 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  353 

one  laments  such  an  abuse  of  authority,  the  press  ought  to 
denounce  it  to  the  people. 

"In  order  to  encourage  a  communication  between  both 
countries,  the  seventh  and  eighth  articles  of  the  treaty  of 
cession  secure  to  the  French  who  come  to  Louisiana  certain 
commercial  advantages,  which  they  are  to  enjoy  during  a 
term  of  twelve  years,  which  are  not  yet  expired.  At  the 
expiration  of  that  term  they  shall  be  treated  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  most  favored  nation.  A  peace,  which  noth- 
ing is  likely  to  disturb,  uniting  both  nations,  the  French 
have,  until  this  moment,  been  treated  in  the  United  States 
with  that  regard  which  a  great  people  deserve  and  require, 
even  in  its  reverses,  and  with  that  good  will  which  so  emi- 
nently distinguish  the  American  Government  in  its  relations 
with  foreign  nations.  In  such  circumstances,  what  can  be 
the  motives  which  have  induced  the  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  Seventh  Military  District  to  issue  general  orders  of 
so  vexatious  a  nature?  When  the  foreigners  of  every 
nation,  when  the  Spaniards  and  even  the  English,  are 
suffered  to  remain  unmolested  among  us,  shall  the  French 
alone  be  condemned  to  ostracism  because  they  rendered  such 
great  services?  Had  they  remained  passive  spectators  of 
the  late  events  —  could  their  sentiments  toward  us  be 
doubted  ?  —  then  we  might  merely  be  surprised  at  the  course 
now  pursued  with  regard  to  them.  But  how  are  we  to 
restrain  our  indignation  when  we  remember  that  these  very 
Frenchmen  who  are  now  to  be  exiled  have  so  powerfully 
contributed  to  the  preservation  of  Louisiana,  without  speak- 
ing of  the  corps  who  so  eminently  distinguished  themselves, 
in  which  we  see  a  number  of  Frenchmen  either  as  officers  or 
privates  ?  How  can  we  forget  that  they  were  French  artil- 
lerists who  directed  and  served  some  of  those  cannons  which 
so  greatly  annoyed  the  British  forces  ?  Can  any  one  flatter 
himself  that  such  important  services  are  so  soon  forgotten? 
No;  they  are  engraved  in  everlasting  characters  on  the 
hearts  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana,  and  they  will  play 
a  brilliant  part  in  the  history  of  our  country.  And  when 
those  brave  men  ask  no  other  reward  but  to  be  permitted 
peaceably  to  enjoy  among  us  the  rights  secured  to  them  by 
treaties  and  the  laws  of  America,  far  from  sharing  in  the 
sentiments  which  have  dictated  the  general  order,  we  avail 


354  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

ourselves  of  this  opportunity  to  give  them  a  public  testimony 
of  our  gratitude. 

"Far  from  us  the  idea  that  there  can  be  a  single  French- 
man so  pusillanimous  as  to  forsake  his  country,  merely  to 
please  the  military  commander  of  the  district,  and  in  order 
to  avoid  the  proscription  to  which  he  has  chosen  to  condemn 
them.  We  may,  therefore,  expect  to  see  them  repair  to  the 
consul  of  their  nation,  there  to  renew  the  act  which  binds 
them  to  their  country.  But,  supposing  that,  yielding  to  a 
sentiment  of  fear,  they  consent  to  cease  to  be  French  citi- 
zens, would  they,  by  such  an  adjuration,  become  American 
citizens?  No;  certainly  they  would  not.  The  man  who 
might  be  powerful  enough  to  denationalize  them  would  not 
be  powerful  enough  to  give  them  a  country.  It  is  better, 
therefore,  for  a  man  to  remain  a  faithful  Frenchman  than 
to  suffer  himself  to  be  scared  even  by  martial  law  —  a  law 
useless  when  the  presence  of  the  foe  and  honor  call  us  to 
arms,  but  which  becomes  degrading  when  their  shameful 
flight  permits  us  to  enjoy  a  glorious  rest,  which  terror  ought 
not  to  disturb. 

"Is  it  possible  that  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  of  our 
country  have  left  it  in  the  power  of  the  several  commanders 
of  military  districts  to  dissolve  all  at  once  the  ties  which 
unite  America  to  the  nations  of  Europe?  Is  it  possible  that 
peace  or  war  depend  upon  their  caprice  and  the  friendship 
or  enmity  they  might  entertain  for  any  nation  ?  We  do  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  nothing  of  the  kind  exists.  The 
President  alone  has,  by  law,  the  right  to  adopt  against  alien 
enemies  such  measures  as  the  state  of  war  may  render  neces- 
sary; and,  for  that  purpose,  he  must  issue  a  proclamation. 
But  this  is  a  power  which  he  cannot  delegate.  It  is  by 
virtue  of  that  law,  and  of  a  proclamation,  that  the  subjects 
of  Great  Britain  were  removed  from  our  ports  and  sea- 
shores. But  we  do  not  know  any  law  authorizing  General 
Jackson  to  apply  to  alien  friends  a  measure  which  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  himself  has  only  the  right  to 
adopt  against  alien  enemies. 

"Our  laws  protect  strangers  who  come  to  settle  or  reside 
among  us.  To  the  sovereign  alone  belongs  the  right  of 
depriving  them  of  that  protection ;  and  all  those  who  know 
how  to  appreciate  the  title  of  an  American  citizen,  and  who 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  355 

are  acquainted  with  their  prerogatives,  will  easily  under- 
stand that  by  the  sovereign  I  do  by  no  means  intend  to 
designate  a  major  general  or  any  other  military  commander, 
to  whom  I  willingly  grant  the  power  of  issuing  general 
orders  like  the  one  of  having  them  executed. 

"If  the  last  general  order  has  no  object  but  to  inspire  in 
us  a  salutary  fear,  it  is  only  destined  to  be  read.  If  it  is 
not  to  be  followed  by  any  act  of  violence,  if  it  is  only  to  be 
executed  by  those  who  may  choose  to  leave  the  city  in  order 
to  enjoy  the  pure  air  of  the  country,  we  shall  forget  that 
extraordinary  order.  But  should  anything  else  happen,  we 
are  of  opinion  that  the  tribunals  will,  sooner  or  later,  do 
justice  to  the  victims  of  that  illegal  order. 

"Every  alien  friend  who  shall  continue  to  respect  the  laws 
which  rule  our  country  will  continue  to  be  entitled  to  their 
protection.  Could  that  general  order  be  applied  to  us,  we 
should  calmly  wait  until  we  were  forced  by  violence  to  obey 
it,  well  convinced  of  the  firmness  of  the  magistrates  who  are 
the  organs  of  the  law  in  this  part  of  the  Union,  and  the 
guardians  of  public  order. 

"Let  us  conclude  by  saying  that  it  is  high  time  the  laws 
should  resume  their  empire;  that  the  citizens  of  this  State 
should  return  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  rights;  that,  in 
acknowledging  that  we  are  indebted  to  General  Jackson  for 
the  preservation  of  our  city  and  the  defeat  of  the  British, 
we  do  not  feel  much  inclined,  through  gratitude,  to  sacrifice 
any  of  our  privileges,  and,  less  than  any  other,  that  of 
expressing  our  opinion  of  the  acts  of  his  administration; 
that  it  is  time  the  citizens  accused  of  any  crime  should  be 
rendered  to  their  natural  judges  and  cease  to  be  brought 
before  special  or  military  tribunals,  a  kind  of  institution  held 
in  abhorrence,  even  in  absolute  governments;  that,  after 
having  done  enough  for  glory,  the  moment  of  moderation 
has  arrived;  and,  finally,  that  the  acts  of  authority  which 
the  invasion  of  our  country  and  our  safety  may  have  ren- 
dered necessary  are,  since  the  evacuation  of  it  by  the  enemy, 
no  longer  compatible  with  our  dignity  and  our  oath  of 
making  the  Constitution  respected." 

This  article  appeared  in  the  Louisiana  Courier.  General 
Jackson  sent  an  order  to  the  editor,  commanding  him  to 


356  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

appear  immediately  at  headquarters.  The  name  of  the 
author  was  demanded  and  given.  It  was  Mr.  Louillier,  a 
member  of  the  Legislature.  Jackson  immediately  sent  a 
squad  of  soldiers  to  arrest  him,  which  was  done  on  one  of 
the  streets  of  the  city.  When  the  officer  of  the  squad 
tapped  him  on  the  shoulder  and  told  him  he  was  a  prisoner, 
he  called  on  the  bystanders  to  bear  witness  of  his  arrest. 
At  the  moment  of  the  arrest  there  was  a  lawyer  named  P.  L. 
Morel  standing  by,  who  rushed  up  to  him  and  said :  'I  am  a 
lawyer ;  at  your  service,'  and  he  was  retained.  I  am  glad 
this  lawyer's  name  has  been  preserved.  I  always  supposed 
he  was  the  father  of  the  Shister  family.  This  arrest  was 
made  at  12  o'clock  on  March  5th.  Then  things  went  rap- 
idly. Here  are  the  proceedings : 

"Louis  Louaillier,  an  inhabitant  of  this  district,  member 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  State  of  Louisiana, 
humbly  showeth  that  he  has  been  this  day  illegally  arrested 
by  F.  Amelung,  an  officer  in  the  Forty-fourth  Regiment, 
who  informed  your  petitioner  that  he  did  arrest  your  peti- 
tioner agreeable  to  orders  given  to  him  (the  said  F.  Ame- 
lung) by  his  Excellency,  Major  General  Jackson,  and  that 
your  said  petitioner  is  now  illegally  detained  by  said  orders. 

"Wherefore  your  petitioner  prays  that  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  be  issued  to  bring  him  before  your  honor,  that  he 
may  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws  of  the  United  States.  P.  L.  MOREL, 

"Attorney  for  the  Petitioner" 

"Let  the  prayer  of  the  petition  be  granted,  and  the  peti- 
tioner be  brought  before  me  at  n  o'clock  tomorrow, 
March  6th.  DOM.  A.  HALL." 

"March  5th." 

"To  His  Excellency,  Major  General  Jackson: 

"SiR :  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  your  Excellency  that 
as  counsel  I  have  made  aplication  to  his  honor,  Dom.  A. 
Hall,  Judge  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  357 

a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Louillier,  who 
conceived  that  he  was  illegally  arrested  by  order  of  your 
Excellency;  and  that  the  said  writ  has  been  awarded,  and 
is  returnable  tomorrow,  6th  instant,  at  1 1  o'clock  A.  M. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  Excellency's  most  humble 
and  obedient  servant, 

"P.  L.  MOREL,  Counsellor  at  Law." 

"HEADQUARTERS  SEVENTH  MILITARY  DISTRICT, 

"NEW  ORLEANS,  March  5,  1815. 

"Having  received  proof  that  Dominick  A.  Hall  has  been 
aiding  and  abetting  and  exciting  mutiny  within  my  camp, 
you  will  forthwith  order  a  detachment  to  arrest  and  confine 
him,  and  report  to  me  as  soon  as  arrested.  You  will  be 
vigilant ;  the  agents  of  our  enemy  are  more  numerous  than 
was  expected.  You  will  be  guarded  against  escapes. 

"A.  JACKSON, 
"Major  General  Commanding" 

"Dr.  William  E.  Butler  is  ordered  to  accompany  the 
detachment  and  point  out  the  man. 

"A.  JACKSON, 
"Major  General  Commanding" 

At  5  o'clock  on  the  5th,  it  being  Sunday,  Louis  Louillier 
and  Dominick  A.  Hall  were  both  in  the  same  jail. 


358  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

HALL   ARRESTED   JACKSON JACKSON    IN    COURT JACK- 

SON'S  FINE  PAID,  AND  REMITTED  AFTER  TWENTY-SEVEN 
YEARS. 

A  LEADING   object    of   this    work    is    to    remove 
erroneous  beliefs,  founded  in  the  writings  of  deeply 
prejudiced  writers,  and  if  possible  to  put  before  the 
public  the  true  character  of  General  Jackson  —  the  man  as 
he  was  —  a  man  of  a  warm,  genial  nature,  a  kind,  loving 
heart,  but  who,  in  the  discharge  of  public  duties,  knew  noth- 
ing but  his  country  and  his  obligations  to  it. 

If  there  was  in  his  whole  life  a  well-defined  trait  of  char- 
acter (and  all  his  traits  of  character  were  well  defined)  on 
which  there  might  be  unfriendly  plausible  criticism,  it  was 
his  stern, .  unbending  discharge  of  duty  as  he  saw  it,  and 
especially  in  dealing  with  men  who  were  persistently  rebel- 
lious to  rightful  authority.  With  a  heart  overflowing  with 
kindness  and  sympathy  for  every  human  being,  over  the 
protests  and  appeals  of  influence  and  friendship,  he  executed 
the  judgments  of  court-martial  in  three  cases  where  the 
penalties  were  death,  but  all  under  circumstances  of  great 
aggravation,  and  where  the  offenses  showed  persistent  and 
defiant  willfulness  in  disobedience  to  law  or  in  the  commis- 
sion of  crime.  I  would  not  say  Jackson  had  no  mercy  for 
lawbreakers.  He  had,  but  it  was  when  the  disobedience 
so  affected  the  public  good,  was  so  demoralizing  as  to 
become  terribly  contagious  if  not  rebuked  in  a  manner  to 
make  an  example,  where  the  sacrifice  of  human  life  itself 
was  the  only  assurance  against  a  calamitous  effect  on  the 
public,  that  he  seemed  severe. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  359 

There  was  nothing  heartless  in  his  approval  of  the  action 
of  his  courts-martial  in  the  cases  referred  to  by  prejudiced 
critics,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  greatest  pain,  and  as  I  verily 
believe  in  each  case,  after  invoking  the  guidance  of  greater 
wisdom;  for  of  all  our  public  men,  Jackson  was  less 
troubled  with  doubts  and  freer  from  agnosticism  than  any. 
His  whole  life  shows  a  conviction  and  a  reliance  on  a  power 
and  a  wisdom  greater  than  his  own.  To  the  day  of  his 
death,  he  believed  it  was  a  guidance  greater  than  his  that 
enabled  him  to  save  his  country  from  a  great  calamity  in 
overcoming  the  British  at  New  Orleans. 

Taking  up  the  thread  of  history  where  it  was  left  in  the 
last  chapter :  There  was  nothing  bolder  in  the  life  of  this 
bold  man  than  in  putting  a  United  States  Judge  in  jail,  and 
no  act  of  his  public  life  can  be  more  successfully  defended. 
If  Jackson  was  right  in  declaring  martial  law,  which  had 
been  fully  approved  by  Judge  Hall  himself,  then  it  was  not 
the  business  of  the  judge  to  say  when  the  danger  was 
removed,  but  of  the  commanding  general.  Jackson  took 
Judge  Hall  and  Louaillier  out  of  jail  and  sent  them  out  of 
the  city.  When  the  treaty  was  approved  and  made  known 
to  General  Jackson,  he  at  once  vacated  his  order  of  martial 
law,  and  all  who  had  been  sent  away  were  promptly  notified 
that  they  could  return. 

As  soon  as  Judge  Hall  returned  he  went  on  the  bench  and 
issued  an  order  for  the  arrest  of  General  Jackson  for  con- 
tempt. The  charge  was,  however,  much  broader  when 
entered.  It  was  that  said  Major  General  Andrew  Jackson 
show  cause  why  an  attachment  should  not  be  awarded 
against  him  for  contempt  of  this  court,  in  having 
wrested  from  the  clerk  aforesaid  an  original  order  of 
the  honorable  judge  of  this  court  for  the  issuance  of  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  in  the  case  of  a  certain  Louis  Louaillier, 
then  imprisoned  by  the  said  Major  General  Andrew  Jackson, 
and  for  detaining  the  same ;  also  for  disregarding  the  said 


360  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

writ  of  habeas  corpus,  when  issued  and  served;  in  having 
imprisoned  the  honorable  judge  of  this  court,  and  for  other 
contempts,  as  stated  by  the  witnesses. 

In  pursuance  of  the  order  General  Jackson  appeared  in 
court  in  citizen's  dress,  and  offered  to  make  defense,  but  the 
judge  declined  to  hear  arguments  on  the  merits  of  the  case. 
When  Jackson  commenced  his  argument  with  a  carefully 
prepared  paper  in  his  hand,  the  court  stopped  him  and  fined 
him  $1,000.  The  order  is  in  these  words : 

"On  this  day  appeared  in  person  Major  General  Andrew 
Jackson,  and,  being  duly  informed  by  the  court  that  an 
attachment  had  issued  against  him  for  the  purpose  of  bring- 
ing him  into  court,  and  the  district  attorney  having  filed 
interrogatories,  the  court  informed  General  Jackson  that 
they  would  be  tendered  to  him  for  the  purpose  of  answering 
thereto.  The  said  General  Jackson  refused  to  receive  them 
or  to  make  any  answer  to  the  said  interrogatives,  where- 
upon the  court  proceeded  to  pronounce  judgment,  which 
was  that  Major  General  Andrew  Jackson  do  pay  a  fine  of 
$1,000  to  the  United  States." 

When  Jackson  was  brought  into  court  there  was  great 
excitement,  and  Jackson  alone  by  getting  up  and  reminding 
the  crowd  that  this  was  a  court  and  appealing  for  order, 
enabled  the  court  to  proceed.  The  crowd  seemed  hard  to 
manage,  and  the  judge  proposed  to  adjourn  to  some  other 
place,  but  Jackson  said  no,  and  assured  the  judge  that  he 
would  be  responsible  for  order.  Mr.  Parton  gives  the 
following  account  of  this  proceeding,  basing  it  mainly  on 
the  story  of  Nolte,  the  fellow  who  invented  the  story  about 
the  cotton  bales,  and  was  otherwise  conspicuous  as  a  manu- 
facturer of  history.  Nolte  says : 

"It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  the  conduct  of  the  people 
in  the  court  room  that  the  course  of  General  Jackson,  in 
maintaining  martial  law  so  long  after  the  conclusion  of 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  361 

peace  was  morally  certain,  was  generally  approved  by  the 
people  of  New  Orleans.  It  was  not.  It  was  approved  by 
many,  forgiven  by  most,  resented  by  a  few.  An  effort  was 
made  to  raise  the  amount  of  the  General's  fine  by  a  public 
subscription,  to  which  no  one  was  allowed  to  contribute 
more  than  a  dollar.  But  Nolte  tells  us  (how  truly  I  know 
not)  that,  after  raising  with  difficulty  one  hundred  and  sixty 
dollars,  the  scheme  was  quietly  given  up.  He  adds  that 
the  court  room  on  the  day  of  the  General's  appearance  was 
occupied  chiefly  by  the  Barratarians  and  the  special  parti- 
sans of  the  General." 

Now,  Nolte  knew  better  than  this,  and  Parton  knew  Nolte 
was  a  discredited  witness. 

The  facts  are,  as  Eaton  describes  the  scene  when  the  trial 
was  over,  that  he  was  seized  and  forcibly  hurried  from  the 
hall  to  the  streets,  amidst  the  reiterated  cries  of  huzza  for 
Jackson  from  the  immense  concourse  that  surrounded  him. 
They  presently  met  a  carriage  in  which  a  lady  was  riding, 
when,  politely  taking  her  from  it,  the  General  was  made, 
spite  of  entreaty,  to  occupy  her  place;  the  horses  being 
removed,  the  carriage  was  drawn  and  halted  at  the  coffee- 
house, into  which  he  was  carried,  and  thither  the  crowd 
followed,  huzzaing  for  Jackson  and  menacing  the  judge. 
Having  prevailed  on  them  to  hear  him,  he  addressed  them 
with  great  feeling  and  earnestness;  implored  them  to  run 
into  no  excesses ;  that  if  they  had  the  least  gratitude  for  his 
services,  or  regard  for  him  personally,  they  could  evince  it 
in  no  way  so  satisfactorily  as  by  assenting,  as  he  most  freely 
did,  to  the  decision  which  had  just  been  pronounced  against 
him.  Upon  reaching  his  quarters  he  sent  back  an  aide-de- 
camp to  the  court  room  with  a  check  on  one  of  the  city 
banks  for  a  thousand  dollars;  and  thus  the  offended 
majesty  of  the  law  was  supposed  to  be  avenged. 

Now  there  is  nothing  better  established  than  that  Nolte 
was  telling  tales,  which  should  never  have  been  repeated  by 
Parton,  in  saying  there  was  an  attempt  made  to  raise  the 


362  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

$1,000  which  failed  when  $160  was  subscribed.  Mr. 
Benton,  in  his  "Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate,"  gives  all  the 
facts.  The  ladies  of  New  Orleans  promptly  raised  the 
$1,000,  but  Jackson  declined  to  receive  it  and  sent  his  own 
check. 

Parton  must  have  been  eager  to  retail  gossip  of  gossipers 
to  publish  this  petty  libel  from  Nolte,  when  there  is  nothing 
in  American  history  hardly  so  well  established  as  the  facts, 
even  down  to  the  minutia  of  this  whole  affair.  The  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  always  stood  ready,  and  it  was 
often  suggested  to  General  Jackson  that  the  Government 
would  pay  back  this  money,  which  he  always  as  promptly 
refused,  unless  it  was  under  a  resolution  completely  justify- 
ing him  in  declaring  martial  law  and  deciding  for  himself 
when  he  could  safely  raise  it.  In  fact,  Jackson  while  in 
office  forbade  his  friends  bringing  it  up,  but  twenty-seven 
years  after  he  had  paid  the  fine,  and  after  Jackson  had 
retired  from  office,  Senator  Linn,  of  Missouri,  offered  a 
resolution  to  refund  the  money.  Upon  notice  in  the  news- 
papers that  Senator  Linn  had  given  notice  of  his  purpose, 
the  General,  from  his  home,  wrote  Senator  Linn  the  follow- 
ing letter : 

"Having  observed  in  the  newspapers  that  you  had  given 
notice  of  your  intention  to  introduce  a  bill  to  refund  to  me 
the  fine  (principal  and  interest)  imposed  by  Judge  Hall,  for 
the  declaration  of  martial  law  at  New  Orleans,  it  was  my 
determination  to  address  you  on  the  subject,  but  the  feeble 
state  of  my  health  has  heretofore  prevented  it.  I  felt  that 
it  was  my  duty  to  thank  you  for  this  disinterested  and  volun- 
tary act  of  justice  to  my  character,  and  to  assure  you  that 
it  places  me  under  obligations  which  I  shall  always  acknowl- 
edge with  gratitude. 

"It  is  not  the  amount  of  the  fine  that  is  important  to  me, 
but  it  is  the  fact  that  it  was  imposed  for  reasons  which  were 
not  well  founded,  and  for  the  exercise  of  an  authority  which 
was  necessary  to  the  successful  defense  of  New  Orleans,  and 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  363 

without  which  it  must  now  be  obvious  to  all  the  world  the 
British  would  have  been  in  possession,  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  of  the  great  emporium  of  the  West.  In  this  point  of 
view  it  seems  to  me  that  the  country  is  interested  in  the 
passage  of  the  bill ;  for  exigencies  like  those  which  existed 
at  New  Orleans  may  again  arise,  and  a  commanding  general 
ought  not  to  be  deterred  from  taking  the  necessary  responsi- 
bility by  the  reflection  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  a  vindictive 
judge  to  impair  his  private  fortune  and  place  a  stain  upon 
his  character  which  cannot  be  removed.  I  would  be  the  last 
man  on  earth  to  do  any  act  which  would  invalidate  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  military  power  should  always  be  subjected  to 
the  civil  power,  but  I  contend  that  at  New  Orleans  no 
measure  was  taken  by  me  which  was  at  war  with  this  prin- 
ciple, of  which,  if  properly  understood,  was  not  necessary 
to  preserve  it. 

"When  I  declared  martial  law,  Judge  Hall  was  in  the  city, 
and  he  visited  me  often,  when  the  propriety  of  its  declaration 
was  discussed,  and  was  recommended  by  the  leading  and 
patriotic  citizens.  Judging  from  his  actions,  he  appeared 
to  approve  it.  The  morning  the  order  was  issued  he  was 
in  my  office,  and  when  it  was  read  he  was  heard  to  exclaim, 
'Now  the  country  may  be  saved;  without  it,  it  was  lost.' 
How  he  came  afterwards  to  unite  with  the  treacherous  and 
disaffected,  and,  by  the  exercise  of  his  power,  endeavored 
to  paralyze  my  exertions,  it  is  not  necessary  here  to  explain. 
It  was  enough  for  me  to  know  that  if  I  was  excusable  in  the 
declaration  of  martial  law  in  order  to  defend  the  city  when 
the  enemy  were  beseiging  it,  it  was  right  to  continue  it  until 
all  danger  was  over.  For  full  information  on  this  part  of 
the  subject,  I  refer  you  to  my  defense  under  Judge  Hall's 
rule  for  me  to  appear  and  show  cause  why  an  attachment 
should  not  issue  for  a  contempt  of  court.  This  defense  is 
in  the  appendix  to  Eaton's  'Life  of  Jackson.' 

"There  is  no  truth  in  the  rumor  which  you  notice  that 
the  fine  he  imposed  was  paid  by  others.  Every  cent  of  it 
was  paid  by  myself.  When  the  sentence  was  pronounced, 
Abner  L.  Duncan  (who  had  been  one  of  my  aide-de-camps, 
and  was  one  of  my  counsel),  hearing  me  request  Major 
Reed  to  repair  to  my  quarters  and  bring  the  sum,  not  intend- 
ing to  leave  the  room  until  the  fine  was  paid,  asked  the 


364  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

clerk  if  he  would  take  his  check.  The  clerk  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  and  Mr.  Duncan  gave  the  check.  I  then 
directed  my  aides  to  proceed  forthwith,  get  the  money,  and 
meet  Mr.  Duncan's  check  at  the  bank  and  take  it  up,  which 
was  done.  These  are  the  facts,  and  Major  Davezac,  now 
in  the  Assembly  of  New  York,  can  verify  them. 

"It  is  true,  as  I  was  informed,  that  the  ladies  did  raise  the 
amount  to  pay  the  fine  and  costs;  but  when  I  heard  of  it, 
I  advised  them  to  apply  it  to  the  relief  of  the  widows  and 
orphans  that  had  been  made  so  by  those  who  had  fallen  in 
the  defense  of  the  country.  It  was  so  applied,  as  I  had 
every  reason  to  believe;  but  Major  Davezac  can  tell  you 
more  particularly  what  was  done  with  it." 

The  whole  facts  of  this  deeply  interesting  play  in  our 
national  history  can  only  be  known  by  seeing  General  Jack- 
son's defense,  which  he  proposed  to  make  when  put  on  trial, 
but  which  he  was  not  allowed  to  read.  It  was  filed  in  court. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  our  history. 
While  Parton  filled  up  a  book  of  more  than  2,000  pages, 
much  of  it  trash,  he  declined  to  publish  any  part  of  this 
defense.  It  takes  this  paper,  drawn  up  at  the  time,  to  show 
why  martial  law  was  declared  and  maintained. 

The  defense  made  by  General  Jackson  when  arraigned 
(left  out  by  Parton)  is  not  an  insignificant  scrap  in  his  life; 
it  is  a  chapter  without  which  any  history  is  imperfect. 
Nothing  in  Jackson's  life  is  more  Jacksonian  than  the 
defense  —  it  is  the  reasons  for  martial  law  given  by  him 
who  knew  them  better  than  any  man  living.  In  all  the 
debates  that  came  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  no  man 
ever  put  the  argument  for  his  defense  better  than  he  did 
himself  when  all  the  city  was  excited  but  himself. 

After  giving  what  he  found  by  many  letters  and  other 
valuable  information  collected  about  the  disloyalty  of  the 
Legislature  and  the  danger  from  secret  enemies  and  spies, 
he  proceeds: 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  365 

"With  the  impressions  this  correspondence  was  calculated 
to  produce,  the  respondent  arrived  in  this  city,  where,  in 
different  conversations,  the  same  ideas  were  enforced,  and 
he  was  advised,  not  only  by  the  Governor  of  the  State,  but 
very  many  influential  persons,  to  proclaim  martial  law,  as 
the  only  means  of  producing  union,  overcoming  disaffec- 
tion, detecting  treason,  and  calling  forth  the  energies  of  the 
country.  This  measure  was  discussed  and  recommended  to 
the  respondent,  as  he  well  recollects,  in  the  presence  of  the 
judge  of  this  honorable  court,  who  not  only  made  no  objec- 
tion, but  seemed,  by  his  gestures  and  silence,  to  approve  of 
its  being  adopted.  These  opinions,  respectable  in  them- 
selves, derived  greater  weight  from  that  which  the  Governor 
expressed  of  the  Legislature  then  in  session.  He  repre- 
sented their  loyalty  very  doubtful ;  ascribed  design  to  their 
prolonged  session,  and  appeared  extremely  desirous  that 
they  should  adjourn. 

"The  respondent  had  also  been  informed,  that  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  the  idea  that  a  very  considerable 
part  of  the  State  belonged  to  the  Spanish  Government  and 
ought  not  to  be  represented  had  been  openly  advocated  and 
favorably  heard.  The  co-operation  of  the  Spaniards  with 
the  English  was  at  that  time  a  prevalent  idea.  This  infor- 
mation, therefore,  appeared  highly  important.  He  deter- 
mined to  examine,  with  the  utmost  care,  all  the  facts  that 
had  been  communicated  to  him,  and  not  to  act  upon  the 
advice  he  had  received  until  the  clearest  demonstration 
should  have  determined  its  propriety.  He  was  then  almost 
an  entire  stranger  in  the  place  he  was  sent  to  defend,  and 
unacquainted  with  the  language  of  a  majority  of  the  inhab- 
itants. While  these  circumstances  were  unfavorable  to  his 
obtaining  information,  on  the  one  hand,  they  precluded,  on 
the  other,  a  suspicion  that  his  measures  were  dictated  by 
personal  friendship,  private  animosity,  or  party  views. 
Uninfluenced  by  such  motives,  he  began  his  observations. 
He  communicated  with  men  of  every  description  in  seeking 
information.  He  believed  that  even  then  he  discovered 
those  high  qualities  which  have  since  distinguished  those 
brave  defenders  of  their  country,  that  the  variety  of  lan- 
guage, the  difference  of  habit,  and  even  the  national  preju- 
dices which  seemed  to  divide  the  inhabitants  might  be  made, 


366  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

if  properly  directed,  the  source  of  the  most  honorable  emula- 
tion. Delicate  attentions  were  necessary  to  foster  this 
disposition,  and  the  highest  energy  to  restrain  the  effects 
that  such  an  assemblage  was  calculated  to  produce.  He 
determined  to  avail  himself  of  both,  and  with  this  view 
called  to  his  aid  the  impulse  of  national  feeling,  the  higher 
motives  of  patriotic  sentiment  and  the  noble  enthusiasm  of 
valor.  They  operated  in  a  manner  which  history  will 
record ;  all  who  could  be  influenced  by  those  feelings  rallied 
without  delay  round  the  standard  of  their  country.  Their 
efforts,  however,  would  have  been  unavailing  if  the  disaf- 
fected had  been  permitted  to  counteract  them  by  their 
treason,  the  timid  to  paralyze  them  by  their  example,  and 
both  to  stand  aloof  in  the  hour  of  danger  and  enjoy  the 
fruit  of  victory  without  participating  in  the  danger  of  defeat. 
"A  disciplined  and  powerful  army  was  on  our  coast,  com- 
manded by  officers  of  tried  valor  and  consummate  skill; 
their  fleet  had  already  destroyed  the  feeble  defense  on  which 
alone  we  could  rely,  to  prevent  their  landing  on  our  shores. 
Their  point  of  attack  was  uncertain  —  a  hundred  inlets  were 
to  be  guarded  by  a  force  not  sufficient  in  number  for  one; 
we  had  no  lines  of  defense;  treason  lurked  among  us,  and 
only  waited  the  moment  of  expected  defeat  to  show  itself 
openly.  Our  men  were  few,  and  of  those  few  not  all  were 
armed;  our  prospect  of  aid  and  supply  was  distant  and 
uncertain;  our  utter  ruin,  if  we  failed,  at  hand  and  inev- 
itable; everything  depended  on  the  prompt  and  energetic 
use  of  the  means  we  possessed  on  calling  the  whole  force 
of  the  community  into  action ;  it  was  a  contest  for  the  very 
existence  of  the  State,  and  every  nerve  was  to  be  strained 
in  its  defense.  The  physical  force  of  every  individual,  his 
moral  faculties,  his  property,  and  the  energy  of  his  example 
were  to  be  called  into  action,  and  instant  action.  No  delay, 
no  hesitation,  no  inquiry  about  rights,  or  all  was  lost;  and 
everything  dear  to  man,  his  property,  life,  the  honor  of  his 
family,  his  country,  its  Constitution  and  laws,  were  swept 
away  by  the  avowed  principles,  the  open  practice  of  the 
enemy  with  whom  we  have  had  to  contend.  Fortifications 
were  to  be  erected,  supplies  secured,  arms  sought  for,  requi- 
sitions made,  the  emissaries  of  the  enemy  watched,  lurking 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  367 

treason  overawed,  insubordination  punished,  and  the  con- 
tagion of  cowardly  example  to  be  stopped. 

"In  this  crisis,  and  under  a  firm  persuasion  that  none  of 
those  objects  could  be  effected  by  the  exercise  of  the  ordi- 
nary powers  confided  to  him,  under  a  solemn  conviction 
that  the  country  committed  to  his  care  could  be  saved  by 
that  measure  only  from  utter  ruin,  under  a  religious  belief 
that  he  was  performing  the  most  important  and  sacred  duty, 
the  respondent  proclaimed  martial  law.  He  intended  by 
that  measure  to  supersede  such  civil  powers  as  in  their 
operation  interfered  with  those  he  was  obliged  to  exercise. 
He  thought,  in  such  a  moment,  constitutional  forms  must 
be  suspended  for  the  permanent  preservation  of  constitu- 
tional rights,  and  that  there  could  be  no  question  whether 
it  were  best  to  depart  for  a  moment  from  the  enjoyment  of 
our  dearest  privileges,  or  have  them  wrested  from  us  for- 
ever. He  knew  that  if  the  civil  magistrate  were  permitted 
to  exercise  his  usual  functions,  none  of  the  measures  neces- 
sary to  avert  the  awful  fate  that  threatened  us  could  be 
expected.  Personal  liberty  cannot  exist  at  a  time  when 
every  man  is  required  to  become  a  soldier.  Private  property 
cannot  be  secured,  when  its  use  is  indispensable  to  the  public 
safety.  Unlimited  liberty  of  speech  is  incompatible  with 
the  discipline  of  a  camp,  and  that  of  the  press  more  danger- 
ous still  when  made  the  vehicle  of  conveying  intelligence  to 
the  enemy,  or  exciting  mutiny  among  the  troops.  To  have 
suffered  the  uncontrolled  enjoyment  of  any  of  those  rights, 
during  the  time  of  the  late  invasion,  would  have  been  to 
abandon  the  defense  of  the  country;  the  civil  magistrate  is 
the  guardian  of  those  rights,  and  the  proclamation  of 
martial  law  was,  therefore,  intended  to  supersede  the  exer- 
cise of  his  authority  so  far  as  it  interfered  with  the  necessary 
restriction  of  those  rights;  but  no  further." 

This  paper  is  made  prominent  by  Colonel  Benton  in  his 
great  work  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  times,  though  it 
was  not  within  the  scope  of  his  "Thirty  Years  in  the  United 
States  Senate." 

Through  a  long  public  life,  with  combined  forces, 
embodying  the  greatest  talent  in  an  age  of  giants,  con- 


368  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

stantly  renewing  and  pressing  the  fight  against  him;  some 
for  declaring  martial  law  and  imprisoning  a  United  States 
Judge;  some  sincerely  believing  a  military  hero  should  not 
hold  high  civil  office ;  some  believing,  under  the  inspiration 
of  false  teachers,  that  he  was  a  man  whose  self-will  subor- 
dinated his  patriotism;  some  ambitious  and  jealous  of  his 
hold  on  the  people,  and  many  honestly  differing  with  him 
on  Democratic  theory  of  government;  so  that  through  a 
lifetime  this  great  aim  was  kept  before  the  world,  whether 
it  was  right  or  wrong,  the  best  defense  ever  made  for  it  was 
made  by  Jackson  himself,  when  just  back  from  driving  the 
invaders  from  our  soil,  but  still  on  guard  in  his  country's 
service. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  369 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  DEMURRER  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE  OVER  JUDGE 
HALL'S  FINE  —  JUDGE  TAPPAN,  OF  OHIO,  DEFENDS 
JACKSON — LONG  CONTINUED  PERSECUTION  OF  JACKSON 
FOR  ARRESTING  HALL AGAIN  PARTON  SEEKS  TO  DIS- 
HONOR GENERAL  AND  MRS.  JACKSON THE  BALL  GIVEN 

IN  HONOR  OF  THE  GREAT  TRIO THE  STUDENTS  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  NASHVILLE  GIVE  JACKSON  A  RECEPTION 
WHEN   HE  RETURNS  TO  NASHVILLE. 

THE  question  of  General  Jackson's  right  to  make  a 
military  camp  of  New  Orleans  by  putting  it  under 
martial  law,  and  the  capital  made  of  it  by  his 
enemies,  fully  justifies  a  continuation  of  the  subject,  at  least 
to  the  extent  of  giving  the  reader  the  benefit  of  the  great 
speech  made  by  Judge  Tappan,  of  Ohio,  in  the  United  States 
Senate  before  the  final  vote  was  taken.  For  twenty-seven 
years  the  enemies  of  General  Jackson  had  held  up  to  the 
American  people  as  a  great  crime,  and  as  the  highest  evi- 
dence of  a  lawless  and  reckless  purpose,  the  act  which  of  all 
others  in  our  history  was  the  greatest  blessing  to  our 
common  country  —  an  act  which  saved  a  city  from  desola- 
tion, and  the  nation  from  closing  up  a  protracted  war  in 
disgrace  and  bringing  upon  the  whole  people  the  deepest 
humiliation. 

Supplementing  and  sustaining  General  Jackson's  argu- 
ment, prepared  for  the  contempt  case  before  Judge  Hall, 
Judge  Tappan,  of  Ohio,  made  a  speech  in  the  Senate  that 
had  much  to  do  in  removing  all  doubt  from  the  public  mind 
on  Jackson's  right  to  declare  martial  law  and  having  the 
$  1,000  refunded  to  him. 

The  persistent  and  long  continued  assailment  of  General 


370  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Jackson's  character  on  the  stump  and  in  Congress  for 
declaring  martial  law,  making  the  impression  on  the  public 
mind  that  it  was  a  great  national  sin,  treason  to  the  Consti- 
tution, whose  corner-stone  is  civil  government,  is  the  excuse 
for  the  somewhat  elaborate  discussion  and  presentation  of 
the  facts.  In  this  work,  so  far,  I  have  passed  over  much  of 
the  personal  history  of  General  Jackson,  deeply  interesting 
as  it  is,  that  I  may  give  the  more  space  to  the  truth  of 
history,  mainly  the  facts  on  which  his  defense  rests  in  the 
issues  which  his  enemies  made.  These  issues  were  numer- 
ous —  in  fact,  coming  when  he  came  on  the  stage,  and 
ending  with  his  life.  No  public  man,  reaching  the  highest 
stations  in  civil  and  military  life,  and  standing  to  the  front 
as  he  did,  has  been  through  a  lifetime  compelled  to  fight  his 
way  as  did  this  man  of  destiny.  No  great  conception  of 
his  —  and  his  whole  life  was  spent  in  thinking  and  acting  in 
advance  of  others  —  ever  passed  pro  forma.  The  public 
men,  the  big  men  of  the  country,  the  men  who  created  and 
led  parties  and  aspired  to  control  them,  the  ambitious  states- 
men of  the  age  in  which  Jackson  was  before  the  public, 
were  all  his  rivals  in  a  sense. 

From  the  time  he  came  into  Tennessee,  at  twenty-one 
years  old,  until  his  body  was  consigned  to  its  final  resting 
place  in  the  soil  that  he  immortalized,  when  he  said  of  a 
great  British  army  just  landed,  "They  shan't  sleep  on  our 
soil,"  he  was  the  central  figure,  whether  in  the  community 
in  which  he  lived,  or  at  the  head  of  the  army  which  made 
famous  the  volunteer  service,  or  as  the  leader  of  the  people 
and  at  the  head  of  the  greatest  nation  in  the  world;  no 
matter  where  nor  who  were  his  rivals,  nor  who  assailed  him, 
he  was  always  as  certainly  at  the  front  and  in  the  lead  as 
that  Jupiter  ranks  his  satellites. 

Of  course  this  man  had  rivals  —  of  course  he  had  ene- 
mies —  I  say  of  course,  for  until  there  is  a  more  complete 
regeneration  in  our  race  than  has  yet  taken  place,  such  a 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  371 

man  will  have  enemies  and  would-be  rivals.  Jackson's 
advance  conceptions,  and  the  boldness  with  which  he 
enforced  them,  and  the  success  he  attained,  put  the  whole 
American  people  in  a  stir.  The  big  men  fought  him; 
fought  his  issues  —  it  was  the  natural  thing  for  them  to  do. 
They  made  issues  with  him  which,  by  the  ingenuity  of  great 
minds,  have  come  down  to  us,  and  with  the  help  of  an 
unkind  and  unfriendly  biographer,  still  in  some  degree 
becloud  the  name  of  the  great  Tennessean.  Though  the 
whole  world  besides  may,  in  stupidity  or  lack  of  spirit, 
permit  the  clouds  to  hang  over  the  great  Tennessean,  Ten- 
nessee cannot.  One  by  one  of  the  issues  made  with 
Jackson,  and  which  are  calculated  to  bring  doubts  where 
there  ought  to  be  certainty,  should  be  met  and  the  facts 
given,  and  one  by  one  the  clouds  will  be  swept  away.  Who, 
when  all  the  facts  are  put  together,  as  I  have  done  in  the 
martial  law  assignment,  will  doubt  for  one  moment  the 
right,  the  wisdom,  and  the  patriotism  in  declaring  martial 
law  at  New  Orleans? 

It  is  to  meet  and  remove  from  the  public  mind,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  false  issues  made  by  some  of  the  great  men  of 
the  times  in  political  heat  —  issues,  charges  that  outran  the 
defense,  and  that  have  been  persistently  kept  alive,  that  in 
part  moved  me  to  this  work;  but  more  especially  to  repel 
the  .charges  of  criminal  ignorance  and  vile  motives  made 
by  a  designing  and  deeply  prejudiced  biographer. 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  a  people  whose  State  claims 
him,  whose  ancestors  were  led  by  him  to  a  righteous  victory 
in  arms  that  has  nothing  like  it  in  history,  a  man  whose 
genius  ranks  along  with  that  of  Cromwell  and  Charles  XII 
of  Sweden,  and  whose  patriotism  and  statesmanship  go 
along  with  those  of  the  great  Washington,  but  a  people  who 
have  not  enough  of  his  noble  nature  and  high  sense  of  grat- 
itude, as  well  as  pride  of  ancestry,  to  defend  him  when  he 
sleeps  from  a  libelous  post  mortem  biographer,  who  assumes 


372  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  place  of  a  friend  to  give  out  to  the  reading  world  a 
tissue  of  spiteful,  libelous,  and  in  some  sectional  criticisms, 
beclouding  the  name  and  the  life  of  the  immortal  hero, 
patriot,  and  statesman,  and  minimizing  the  deeds  of  the 
men  who  followed  him  —  such  a  people  cannot  by  enlight- 
ened lookers-on  be  regarded  as  the  legitimate  progeny  of  a 
glorious  ancestry. 

The  war  was  over  and  the  victor  the  greatest  hero  of 
modern  times,  he  at  once  set  himself  down  in  the  city  he 
had  saved,  and  for  twenty-four  days  devoted  himself  to 
settling  accounts — claims  that  had  been  made  in  prosecuting 
the  war.  This  done,  and  Mrs.  Jackson  having  reached  New 
Orleans,  the  General  set  about  returning  to  Tennessee, 
which  he  did,  with  his  wife  and  the  little  seven-year-old 
adopted  son.  Yes,  back  to  his  beloved  Tennessee,  the 
fourth  return  after  he  had  been  at  the  head  of  the  army  to 
hear  the  plaudits  of  the  thousands  that  came  to  honor  him. 
On  his  reaching  Nashville,  such  an  ovation  as  he  received 
has  not  been  given  any  other  man  in  our  history. 

He  came  not  as  did  the  Roman  conquerors  with  the 
riches  of  a  conquered  people  and  with  the  conquered  as 
slaves,  but  he  came  with  the  flag  of  his  country  that  he  had 
rescued  from  the  hands  of  a  powerful  enemy  who  had  cap- 
tured our  flag  at  the  very  door  of  the  Capitol.  The  people's 
great  orator,  Felix  Grundy,  was  chosen,  as  he  had  been  on 
the  other  occasions  of  the  General's  return.  The  speech 
was  said  to  be  one  of  Mr.  Grundy's  finest  efforts,  a  review 
of  facts  showing  the  great  Tennessean  at  the  head  of  a 
Tennessee  army  teaching  England  a  lesson  to  be  remem- 
bered. General  Jackson's  reply  was  given  in  the  papers, 
and  was  nine  lines.  It  was  as  follows : 

"Sir,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  express  my  feelings.  The  appro- 
bation of  my  fellow  citizens  is  to  me  the  richest  reward. 
Through  you,  sir,  I  beg  leave  to  assure  them  that  I  am  this 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  373 

day  amply  compensated  for  every  toil  and  labor.  In  a  war 
forced  upon  us  by  the  multiplied  wrongs  of  a  nation  who 
envied  our  increasing  prosperity,  important  and  difficult 
duties  were  assigned  me.  I  have  labored  to  discharge  them 
faithfully,  having  a  single  eye  to  the  honor  of  my  country. 
The  bare  consciousness  of  having  performed  my  duty  would 
have  been  a  source  of  great  happiness,  but  the  assurance  that 
what  I  have  done  meets  your  approbation  enhances  that 
happiness  greatly." 

This  speech  is  wonderful  in  its  modesty. 

Before  leaving  New  Orleans  the  people  of  that  once 
doomed  but  rescued  city  gave  General  Jackson  a  ball,  and 
no  people  knew  better  how  to  show  their  appreciation  of  the 
man  who  was  everything  to  them.  Mr.  Parton,  in  describ- 
ing this  ball,  only  did  what  characterizes  the  entire  work, 
having  told  about  Jackson's  great  victory,  an  afterpart  had 
to  come,  and  like  all  the  other  afterparts  to  Jackson's  great 
deeds,  it  was  the  author's  libelous  coloring,  for,  with  Parton,' 
Jackson  was  never  allowed  to  accomplish  a  great  deed  of 
courage,  heroism,  or  statesmanship  without  giving  it  an 
odor  that  was  disagreeable,  often  much  more;  often  the 
purpose  could  not  be  accomplished  without  a  libelous  state- 
ment, as  in  this  case.  As  usual,  when  Parton  wanted  to 
give  his  libels  a  touch  of  humor,  he  called  in  his  useful 
backing,  Nolte,  the  notorious  inventor  of  the  cotton  bale 
falsehood.  So,  on  this  occasion,  he  called  in  Nolte  to  aid 
him  in  giving  General  and  Mrs.  Jackson  a  character  that 
would  be  pleasing  to  the  people  in  some  sections  of  the 
country,  whose  prejudices  against  the  great  Southerner 
had  not  abated  at  the  time  (1859)  that  Parton  wrote  his 
"Life  of  Jackson." 

Parton  first  gives  an  account  of  an  interview  between 
Jackson  and  Nolte,  in  which  Nolte  was  setting  up  a  claim 
for  cotton  goods,  claimed  to  be  taken  by  Jackson  to  clothe 
the  soldiers,  and  in  which  he  says  Jackson  used  some  d — ds 


374  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

in  his  treatment  of  Nolte's  claim,  and  was  otherwise  curt  in 
his  language  to  the  man  who  was  of  so  much  use  to  Parton 
in  belittling  a  man  who  had  triumphed  over  a  British  army 
that  had  taken  Washington  and  brought  desolation  wherever 
it  went  in  the  Northern  States. 

In  the  thousand  misrepresentations'  of  Jackson's  real 
character  by  Parton,  nothing  is  meaner  than  the  miserable 
petty  scandals  which  he  and  Nolte  invented  about  the  Gen- 
eral and  Mrs.  Jackson  as  a  parting  blessing  when  they  were 
about  to  leave  for  home.  He  says  Mrs.  Jackson  was  homely 
in  costume  and  speech,  corpulent  and  very  dark;  says  she 
was  a  strange  figure  among  the  elegant  Creole  ladies  of  the 
city;  she  had  never  visited  any  city  but  Nashville;  that 
she  confessed  she  knew  nothing  about  fine  clothes  and  fine 
company;  that  the  ladies  of  New  Orleans  undertook  the 
task  of  buying  clothes  and  dressing  her ;  that  the  artists  of 
the  city  drew  caricatures  of  her,  in  which  the  short,  stout 
Mrs.  General  Jackson  was  expected  to  appear  at  the  ball; 
that  she  was  pictured  standing  upon  a  table  while  the  ladies 
were  lacing  her  stays,  struggling  to  make  a  waist  where  a 
waist  had  been,  but  was  not.  This  libel,  for  such  it  is, 
could  have  been  invented  only  by  a  man  whose  malice  went 
out  against  women. 

Mrs.  Jackson  was  the  daughter  of  the  most  wealthy  and 
enterprising  frontiersman  of  the  Cumberland  settlements; 
she  was,  perhaps,  the  best  educated  young  woman  in  the 
country  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  and  her  letters,  still 
extant,  several  of  which  I  have  published,  show  her  to  have 
considerable  culture  for  people  in  a  new  country  —  not  an 
educated  woman  in  the  sense  the  term  is  now  used.  And 
as  to  the  General,  if  there  was  anything  on  earth  he  knew 
better  than  how  to  whip  the  British,  it  was  how  to  be  a 
gentleman. 

With  a  great  deal  of  hesitancy  I  am  republishing  this 
scandal,  this  malicious  piece  of  defamation  about  Mrs. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  375 

Jackson's  ignorance  at  New  Orleans,  but  only  that  I  may 
denounce  it  as  maliciously  libelous. 

Think  of  newspaper  caricatures  of  Mrs.  Jackson,  debasing 
her  body  and  degrading  the  General  as  her  husband,  sent 
out  by  newspaper  men  while  "Old  Hickory"  was  in  the  city. 
How  long  would  they  have  lived  after  the  first  paper 
appeared?  More  than  that,  think  of  Parton  fifteen  years 
after  the  old  man  was  in  his  grave,  as  a  sort  of  self-consti- 
tuted executor  of  Nolte,  the  liar,  publishing  this  libelous 
morsel  about  Mrs.  Jackson.  There  is  said  to  be  no  passing 
between  heaven  and  hell,  or  I  might  imagine  the  spirit  of  the 
great  Tennessean  leaving  the  shining  court  to  yet  scourge 
the  defamers  of  Mrs.  Jackson. 

Parton  in  his  defamation  went  much  further  and  drew  a 
picture  of  the  General  and  Mrs.  Jackson  at  the  ball,  where, 
he  says,  after  supper  the  elite  people  of  New  Orleans  were 
treated  to  a  most  delicious  pas  de  deux,  in  which  the  great 
conqueror  and  his  spouse  led  the  dance.  The  General,  a 
long,  haggard  man,  with  the  limbs  of  a  skeleton,  and 
Madame  La  General,  a  short,  fat  dumpling,  the  two  like 
half-drunken  Indians,  bobbing  up  and  down  opposite  each 
other,  to  the  wild  melody  of  "'Possum  Up  de  Gum  Tree," 
both  jumping  as  high  as  possible.  And  all  of  which;  he 
says,  was  to  the  enlightened  people  of  New  Orleans  a  more 
edifying  spectacle  than  any  European  ballet  could  possible 
have  furnished. 

This  personal  exhibition  of  General  Jackson  as  a  clown, 
making  of  himself  and  Mrs.  Jackson  a  disgusting  spectacle 
in  a  company  of  the  most  refined  and  elegant  people  to  be 
found,  is  entirely  distitute  of  truth.  It  was  deliberately 
concocted  by  Nolte  and  maliciously  published  by  Parton,  to 
furnish  food  for  all  that  part  of  New  England  that  sang  the 
chorus  to  the  British  press  when  it  denounced  the  American 
people  as  bullies  in  bringing  on  the  war  of  1812  and  cow- 
ards when  it  came  to  fighting,  and  it  was  only  silenced  by 


376  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  crushing  defeat  at  New  Orleans.  And  while  the  New 
England  clamor  for  peace  on  any  terms,  and  the  outcry  of 
the  Hartford  Convention  in  its  treason  to  its  country  were 
suppressed  by  Jackson's  great  triumph,  it  did  not  destroy 
the  appetite,  whose  gnawing  was  malevolence  with  a  spite- 
ful silence  after  Jackson  brought  back  the  flag  they  had 
surrendered.  And  it  was  to  satisfy  this  suppressed  hateful 
prejudice  that  led  Parton  into  the  utility  of  defamation. 

One  part  of  this  statement  needs  qualification.  It  was 
not  all  of  New  England  that  was  against  the  war  of  1812. 
Much  of  New  England,  not  the  press,  was  standing  by  the 
flag,  as  did  their  fathers  in  the  Revolution.  But  at  that 
time  New  England's  business  was  not  manufacturing,  but 
she  was  in  the  carrying  trade,  and  their  ships  had  been  land- 
locked, driven  from  the  sea  by  England's  infamous  doctrine 
of  the  right  of  search.  The  war,  righteous  as  it  was,  fight- 
ing for  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  interfered  with  their  busi- 
ness, and  they  denounced  it  like  Demetrius,  who  denounced 
the  Christian  religion  because  it  broke  up  his  business  of 
making  gods  for  the  heathen. 

In  addition  to  the  grand  reception  given  General  Jackson 
when  he  came  home,  as  hereinbefore  shown,  the  students  of 
the  Nashville  University,  of  whose  board  of  trustees  he 
had  long  been  a  member,  visited  him,  and  his  speech  to 
them  is  worthy  of  a  place  here.  It  was  as  follows : 

"YOUNG  GENTLEMEN  :  With  lively  feelings  of  pride  and 
joy  I  receive  your  address.  To  find  that  even  the  youth  of 
my  country,  although  engaged  in  literary  pursuits  and 
exempt  from  military  duty,  are  willing  when  the  voice  of 
patriotism  calls,  to  abandon  for  a  time  the  seat  of  the  muses 
for  privations  of  a  camp,  excites  in  my  heart  the  warmest 
interest.  The  country  which  has  the  good  fortune  to  be 
defended  by  soldiers  animated  by  such  feelings  as  those 
young  gentlemen  who  were  once  members  of  the  same  liter- 
ary institution  you  now  are,  and  whom  I  had  the  honor  to 
command,  will  never  be  in  danger  from  internal  or  external 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  377 

foes.  Their  good  conduct,  on  many  trying  occasions,  will 
never  be  forgotten  by  their  General.  It  is  a  source  of  par- 
ticular satisfaction  to  me  that  you  duly  appreciate  the 
merits  of  those  worthy  and  highly  distinguished  Generals, 
Carroll  and  Coffee.  Their  example  is  worthy  imitation; 
and  from  the  noble  sentiments  which  you  on  this  pccasion 
express,  I  entertain  no  doubt,  if  circumstances  require,  you 
will  emulate  their  deeds  of  valor.  It  is  to  such  officers  and 
their  brave  associates  in  arms  that  Tennessee,  in  military 
achievements,  can  vie  with  the  most  renowned  of  her  sister 
States.  That  your  academic  labors  may  be  crowned  with 
the  fullest  success,  by  fulfilling  the  highest  expectations  of 
your  relatives  and  friends,  is  the  ardent  and  sincere  wish  of 
my  heart.  Receive,  my  young  friends,  my  prayers  for  your 
future  health  and  prosperity." 

This  speech  is  a  model — an  example  of  good  taste  rarely 
equaled. 

So  when  a  large  number  of  his  friends  called  in  a  body  at 
the  Hermitage  he  addressed  them  as  follows : 

"The  warm  testimonials  of  your  friendship  and  regard 
I  receive,  gentlemen,  with  the  liveliest  sensibility.  The 
assurance  of  the  approbation  of  my  countrymen,  and  par- 
ticularly of  my  acquaintances  and  neighbors,  is  the  most 
grateful  offering  that  can  be  made  me.  It  is  a  rich  compen- 
sation for  many  sacrifices  and  many  labors.  I  rejoice  with 
you,  gentlemen,  on  the  able  manner  in  which  the  sons  of 
America,  during  a  most  eventful  and  perilous  conflict,  have 
approved  themselves  worthy  of  the  precious  inheritance 
bequeathed  to  them  by  their  fathers.  They  have  given  a 
new  proof  of  how  impossible  it  is  to  conquer  freemen  fight- 
ing in  defense  of  all  that  is  dear  to  them.  Henceforward 
we  shall  be  respected  by  nations  who,  mistaking  our  charac- 
ter, had  treated  us  with  the  utmost  contumely  and  outrage. 
Years  will  continue  to  develop  our  inherent  qualities,  until, 
from  being  the  youngest  and  weakest,  we  shall  become  the 
most  powerful  nation  in  the  world.  Such  is  the  high  des- 
tiny which  I  persuade  myself  Heaven  has  reserved  for  the 
sons  of  freedom. 


378  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

"I  rejoice  also  with  you,  gentlemen,  at  the  return  of 
peace  under  circumstances  so  fortunate  for  our  fame  and 
our  interest.  In  this  happy  state  of  things  the  inexhausti- 
ble resources  of  our  country  will  be  unfolded,  and  the  great- 
ness for  which  she  is  designed  be  hastened  to  maturity. 
Amongst  the  private  blessings  thence  to  be  expected  I 
anticipate,  with  the  highest  satisfaction,  the  cultivation  of 
that  friendly  intercourse  with  my  neighbors  and  friends 
which  has  heretofore  constituted  so  great  a  portion  of  my 
happiness.*' 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  379 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

ENGLISH  WRITERS  ADMIT  THAT  THE  ENTIRE  LOSS  IN  KILLED 
AND  WOUNDED  AND  BY  DESERTION  IN  THE  ARMY  THAT 

CAME  TO  THE  SOUTH  WAS  4,OOO THOSE  NOT  DEAD  OR 

LOST  WHEN  THEY  GOT  BACK  ARE  SENT  TO  WELLINGTON 

IN    THE    BATTLE    OF    WATERLOO JACKSON    AT    HOME, 

THEN  ORDERED  TO  WASHINGTON  AND  WAS  AGAIN  PUT  TO 

WORK CORRESPONDENCE  BETWEEN   GENERAL  JACKSON 

AND  GENERAL  SCOTT. 

WHEN  General  Jackson  got  the  news  of  the  rati- 
fication of  the  treaty  at  Ghent,  he  at  once  sent 
an  officer  to  General  Lambert,  who,  with  his 
army,  was  still  in  the  ships  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
A  letter  written  by  this  officer  about  the  time  and  published, 
which  contains  some  interesting  features,  is  as  follows : 

"We  went  down  the  river  in  a  sixteen-oared  barge,  and 
had  several  respectable  young  gentlemen  of  the  city  with 
us,  and  a  band  of  music  furnished  by  them.  We  arrived 
at  Dauphin  Island  in  three  days,  and  anchored  abreast  of 
the  British  camp  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  and 
fired  a  salute,  while  the  band  played  our  favorite  tunes  of 
'Hail  Columbia'  and  'Yankee  Doodle.'  The  shore  was 
lined  with  hundreds  of  Englishmen,  cheering  over  and  over, 
as  they  knew  by  the  flag  at  our  masthead  that  we  brought 
them  the  welcome  news  of  peace.  We  remained  on  the 
island  three  days  and  were  treated  with  every  mark  of 
attention  and  respect  by  all  of  them,  and  then  proceeded  on 
to  Mobile  to  inform  our  army  there  of  the  news  of  peace. 
On  our  return  we  stopped  again  at  Dauphin  Island,  and 
took  several  English  officers  on  board  and  brought  them 
up  to  town.  All  these  officers  had  the  greatest  desire  to  see 
this  city  and  our  lines  on  the  battleground,  where  we  beat 
them  so  handsomely.  We  run  them  very  hard  about  it, 


380  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

which  they  took  in  good  humor,  and  they  candidly  acknowl- 
edged 'that  they  had  fought  many  hard  battles  in  France, 
Spain,  etc.,  but  never  met  with  such  play  as  they  received 
from  us  Yankees.'  After  their  retreat  from  New  Orleans, 
they  landed  on  Dauphin  Island,  which  was  then  a  desolate 
place,  but  now  it  looks  like  a  complete  town.  They  have 
about  8,000  men  there,  who  are  almost  in  a  state  of  starva- 
tion. We  are  now  supplying  them  with  provisions  of  every 
kind." 


The  British  writers  admit  that  in  this  campaign,  after  the 
army  was  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  and 
between  that  and  the  time  the  fleet  sailed  for  England,  the 
loss  in  killed  and  wounded  and  by  desertion  was  fully  4,000 
men;  General  Lambert  left  with  between  8,000  and  9,000 
men,  and  this  army  reached  home  in  time  to  be  sent  to  Wel- 
lington, and  they  were  in  the  great  battle  of  Waterloo  six 
months  later. 

General  Jackson  at  home  was  not  allowed  much  rest. 
Not  content  with  the  various  receptions  given  the  hero 
when  he  returned,  the  citizens  of  Nashville  gave  him  a 
banquet,  which  was  attended  by  many  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens and  soldiers  of  the  State.  The  Governor  of  the  State, 
the  same  Governor  Blount  who  had  been  the  firm,  loyal 
friend  of  the  General  from  the  time  of  the  latter  refusing  to 
obey  his  order  had  come  back  from  the  Creek  War,  pre- 
sided, and  when  the  dinner  was  over  Governor  Blount  pre- 
sented the  General  one  of  the  trophies  so  common  about  this 
time.  Governor  Blount,  in  a  letter  subsequently  written, 
says: 

"Yesterday,  at  a  dinner  given  by  the  citizens  of  this  place 
and  vicinity  to  Major  General  Andrew  Jackson,  I  had  the 
honor  and  pleasure  to  deliver  in  your  name  to  that  distin- 
guished patriot,  citizen  and  hero,  the  truly  elegant  sword 
voted  to  be  presented  to  him  through  your  excellency.  It 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  381 

was  presented  in  the  dining-room  in  the  presence  of  hun- 
dreds of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  was  received  by  the  General 
in  a  manner  highly  honorable  to  him  and  gratifying  to 
those  who  were  present." 

Mr.  Parton,  in  one  of  his  spasms  of  justice  to  the  hero, 
pays  this  beautiful  and  truthful  tribute  to  the  great  Ten- 
nesseean  when  he  brings  him  back  home  after  an  almost 
continuous  absence  of  nearly  two  years: 

"And  so  we  dismiss  the  hero  home  to  his  beloved  Hermi- 
tage, there  to  recruit  his  impaired  energies  by  a  brief 
period  of  repose.  He  had  been  absent  from  the  Hermitage 
for  the  space  of  twenty-one  months,  with  the  exception  of 
three  weeks  between  the  end  of  the  Creek  War  and  the 
beginning  of  the  campaign  of  New  Orleans.  He  needed 
rest  almost  as  much  as  he  deserved  it.  He  had  served  his 
country  well.  In  the  way  of  fighting,  nothing  better  has 
been  done  in  modern  times  than  the  defense  of  the  Gulf 
Coast  by  Andrew  Jackson  and  the  men  he  commanded. 
His  conduct  of  the  two  campaigns  was  admirable  and  noble. 
It  will  bear  the  closest  examination,  and  the  better  it  is 
understood  the  more  it  will  be  applauded.  The  success  of 
General  Jackson's  military  career  was  due  to  three  separate 
exertions  of  his  will. 

"First,  his  resolve  not  to  give  up  the  Creek  War  when 
Governor  Blount  advised  it,  when  General  Coffee  was  sick, 
when  the  troops  were  flying  homeward,  when  the  General 
was  almost  alone  in  the  wilderness.  Second,  in  his  deter- 
mination to  clear  the  English  out  of  Pensacola.  Third, 
and  greatest  of  all,  his  resolution  to  attack  the  British 
wherever  and  whenever  they  landed,  no  matter  what  the 
disparity  of  his  forces.  It  was  that  resolve  that  saved  New 
Orleans.  And  it  is  to  be  observed  of  these  measures  that 
they  were  all  irregular,  contrary  to  precedent,  'imprudent' 
measures,  which  no  council  of  war  ordered;  measures 
which,  failing,  all  the  world  would  have  hooted  at — which, 
succeeding,  the  world  can  never  praise  enough."* 


*  This  is  a  tribute  to  General  Jackson,  no  matter  if  Mr.  Parton  did  write  it,  as  sub- 
lime as  it  is  truthful. 


382  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

These  three  exertions  of  his  will  furnish  the  evidence  of 
generalship  that  make  him  the  ranking  American  general; 
they  show  what  his  whole  life  proved,  that  in  a  great  emer- 
gency he  took  no  counsel  and  made  no  failures. 

General  Jackson  spent  the  summer  at  home,  but  was  in 
feeble  health.  Rest  seemed  to  give  the  disease  a  chance  to 
work  on  his  feeble  frame.  But  disease  or  no  disease,  broken 
bones  or  sound  limbs,  his  life  was  one  of  drudgery.  No 
public  man  kept  as  well  up  with  his  correspondence;  it  was 
the  rarest  exception  to  fail  to  answer  a  letter.  In  every 
way  he  was  a  man  of  details,  through  a  long  public  life,  all 
the  time  more  or  less  a  public  servant,  with  a  large  discre- 
tion, he  kept  his  accounts  up  and  made  his  own  settlements, 
always  as  particular  in  closing  up  a  campaign  or  service  of 
any  kind  as  if  it  was  the  one  business  of  his  life.  He  had 
been  in  Tennessee  but  a  short  time  until  his  worth  in  public 
affairs  was  discovered.  He  was  taken  up  as  attorney  gen- 
eral, as  judge,  as  constitution-maker,  as  member  of  the 
lower  House  of  Congress,  as  United  States  Senator.  The 
people  seemed  to  know  by  intuition  his  worth,  and  were 
inclined  to  push  him — to  use  him  in  their  public  affairs  as 
if  he  had  been  assigned  for  duty.  Above  all,  for  many  years 
he  was  major  general  of  the  State  militia,  and  this,  the 
study  of  military  tactics  and  the  organization  of  a  citizen 
soldiery,  was  his  delight  above  everything  else.  Then  when 
he  entered  the  wider  services  his  successes,  one  after 
another,  in  disobeying  orders,  every  act  of  disobedience 
being  a  lesson  to  the  Government,  as  was  always  admitted 
sooner  or  later,  he  was  taken  up  as  the  man  of  all  work. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  Government  gladly  laid 
its  hands  on  him,  as  the  State  had  done,  as  if  he  had  been 
commissioned  to  attend  to  its  affairs ;  but  this  was  after  he 
had  shown  his  power  in  war.  So,  weak  and  feeble  as  he 
was,  after  twenty-one  months  of  a  campaign  starving,  fight- 
ing, disobeying  orders, — a  campaign  of  daring  deeds,  of 


THE   OLD   CABIN 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  383 

suffering,  of  resourceful  energy,  of  self-reliance,  and  of 
victories,  whose  counterpart  has  not  yet  been  found,  rest- 
ing four  months,  he  was  ordered  to  Washington  for  con- 
sultation. 

Leaving  the  Hermitage  barely  able  to  ride  horseback, 
but  riding  slowly  through-  Tennessee  and  Virginia,  the  peo- 
ple everywhere  flocked  to  see  him.  At  Lynchburg,  from  the 
country  far  and  near,  the  people  came.  The  ex-President 
of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Jefferson,  though  then  a  very  old 
man,  made  a  long  day's  journey  to  meet  him.  The  compli- 
mentary toast  offered  at  the  banquet  by  Mr.  Jefferson  was : 

"Honor  and  gratitude  to  those  who  have  filled  the  meas- 
ure of  their  country's  honor." 

Nine  more  days  horseback  carried  him  to  Washington, 
and  such  a  reception  was  never  given  any  public  man  at  the 
Capitol.  The  hero  himself  was  now  in  Washington.  The 
wonders  of  his  campaign  came  up  afresh — came  on  the 
people  as  if  they  had  not  before  heard  them ;  the  man  himself 
was  there — they  could  hardly  believe  it.  Yes,  the  man  was 
there  who  had  whipped  the  nation's  enemy — an  enemy  that, 
like  a  great  bully  not  satisfied,  had  come  back  to  fight  it  over ; 
an  enemy  that,  like  vandals,  had  burned  the  Capitol  and 
destroyed  the  public  records;  an  enemy  of  trained  soldiers 
that  had  burned  the  cities  of  the  North  and  captured  and 
driven  before  them  the  untrained  militia  from  the  Potomac 
to  the  lakes;  an  enemy  that,  fighting  under  the  flag  of  a 
nation  claiming  to  be  the  most  civilized  in  the  world,  had 
massacred  squads  of  soldiers  when  captured,  and  in  the  cit- 
ies when  taken,  had  committed  crimes  not  common  among 
savages.  The  man  was  among  them  that  cleared  up  three 
years  of  devastation,  'of  bloodshed,  of  victory  upon  victory 
by  the  enemy,  in  one  great  victory,  which  had  thrilled  the 
nation  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi  and  from  the 
lakes  to  the  gulf. 

Private  dinners,  public  receptions,  and  one  great  public 


384  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OP 

dinner  was  given.  A  writer  of  the  times  says,  "The  state- 
liness  of  his  bearing  and  the  suavity  of  his  manner,  pleased 
the  gentlemen  and  won  the  ladies." 

But  business  was  in  order;  the  festivities  ceased;  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet  had  a  use  for  the  great  soldier, 
the  man  who  could  raise  and  command  an  army,  fight  and 
whip  everything  in  the  shape  of  an  enemy  that  he  came  to, 
and  at  the  same  time  keep  his  accounts  with  the  Govern- 
ment up,  was  a  treasure.  He  was  the  man  the  Government 
wanted.  By  consultation  with  General  Jackson,  and  on  his 
suggestion,  the  army  was  reduced  to  10,000  men,  with  two 
Major  Generals,  one  stationed  at  the  North  and  one  at  the 
South;  General  Jackson  was  given  the  South  and  General 
Jacob  Brown  the  North.  The  disasters  in  the  North  in  the 
war  that  had  just  closed  was  the  main  reason  why  the  Sec- 
retary of  War  invited  General  Jackson  to  Washington  for 
consultation. 

The  treaties  with  the  Indians  in  closing  up  were  threat- 
ening trouble  about  the  new  lines;  so  as  quick  as  possible 
Jackson  was  at  New  Orleans  to  go  on  a  commission  for 
settling  disputed  questions  about  boundaries,  and  John 
Sevier  was  sent  by  the  President  to  make  surveys. 

General  Jackson  had  so  impressed  the  Government  with 
his  ability  as  a  man  of  business  and  a  diplomat,  as  well  as  a 
military  commander,  that  the  Government  gave  him  a  large 
discretion  as  Major  General  in  dealing  with  the  business 
matters  in  which  the  Government  was  interested. 

At  New  Orleans  he  held  a  grand  review  of  the  militia  on 
the  battle  ground,  which  was  witnessed  by  many  thousands. 
While  in  New  Orleans  the  gratitude  of  the  people  was 
shown  in  receptions,  dinners  and  otherwise — in  fact,  in 
every  way  that  it  could  be  shown. 

When  he  left  New  Orleans  he  visited  and  held  councils 
with  the  chiefs  of  the  Creeks,  Cherokees,  Chickasaws,  and 
Choctaws.  The  purpose  was  to  have  friendly  "talks,"  con- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  385 

ferring  with  them  in  reference  to  their  interests  and  rela- 
tions with  the  Government,  and  giving  them  assurances  of 
the  kindly  intentions  of  the  Government  towards  them. 

The  Chickasaws  were  claiming  a  large  territory  north  of 
the  Tennessee  River,  mainly  what  is  now  West  Tennessee, 
about  one-third  of  the  State  of  Tennessee.  By  a  treaty 
which  was  satisfactory  to  the  Government  he  induced  them 
to  give  up  their  claim;  their  right  to  this  territory  rose  no 
higher  than  mere  claim,  and  the  settlement  simply  removed 
a  cloud.  The  rich  country  now  called  West  Tennessee  was 
at  that  time  falling  under  the  eye  of  the  emigrant,  and  after- 
wards was  rapidly  settled  up.  The  Chickasaws  were  also 
setting  up  a  claim  to  a  part  of  this  land,  but  for  which  Jack- 
son had  very  little  respect;  however,  for  the  sake  of  peace 
and  in  consideration  of  the  good  will  to  our  government 
which  this  tribe  had  shown  and  to  be  continued,  Jackson 
agreed  to  pay  them  for  their  claim  $10,000  a  year  for  ten 
years. 

The  Cherokees  had  insisted  when  Jackson  closed  up  with 
the  Creeks  at  the  end  of  the  Creek  War  and  made  the  Jack- 
son treaty,  that  he  was  taking  part  of  their  lands  in  the 
Mississippi  Territory.  Jackson  did  not  believe  their  claim 
was  well  founded  to  any  part  of  the  Creek  country,  but  they 
now  renewed  the  claim,  and  Jackson  paid  them  $10,000  a 
year  for  eight  years.  In  all  this  Jackson  displayed  his  wis- 
dom as  well  as  his  generosity  and  diplomatic  sagacity. 

This  done,  General  Jackson  again  returned  to  Nashville, 
to  be  received  by  his  neighbors  and  friends  and  citizens  gen- 
erally, all  giving  him  another  public  reception — not  for  the 
trophies  of  war  this  time,  but  what  was  even  dearer — the 
assurance  of  peace,  what  seemed  to  be  and  what  was  per- 
manent peace;  not  only  permanent  peace  (with  all  the 
Southern  tribes  of  Indians,  except  the  runaways  who  had 
gone  into  the  swamps  of  Florida  and  three  years  afterwards 
gave  the  country  some  trouble,  which  trouble,  however,  the 


386  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

General  settled  up  without  much  delay),  but  a  settlement 
with  all  the  Southern  tribes  in  reference  to  claims  which 
they  were  setting  up  to  large  sections  of  land  in  the  State 
of  Tennessee  and  in  the  Mississippi  Territory.  These 
transactions — settling  Indian  claims  to  lands — though  mere 
clouds  on  the  lands  which  he  had  got  by  treaty  at  the  close 
of  the  Creek  War,  were  wise,  but  form  only  a  part  of  Jack- 
son's Indian  policy  hereafter  to  be  shown. 

These  sections  of  country,  particularly  the  Tennessee 
section,  were  in  great  demand  by  immigrants — people  who 
had  been  keeping  off  because  unwilling  to  go  upon  lands  to 
which  the  Indians  were  setting  up  any  sort  of  claim. 

By  General  Jackson's  wise  and  pacific  policy — by  his 
military  successes,  first,  and  then  his  statesmanship — the 
long  continued  savage  wars  were  effectually  ended. 

His  vigorous  and  unprecedented  prosecution  of  the  war 
against  the  Creeks,  the  great  ally  of  the  British — the  entire 
policy  being  his  plan  without  a  suggestion  from  the  Federal 
Government  and  over  the  orders  of  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  who  ranked  him  as  a  military  officer — and  then  by 
his  diplomacy  and  knowledge  of  the  Indian  character,  mak- 
ing every  movement  as  gentle,  pacific  and  merciful  as  his 
war  measures  had  been  vigorous  and  relentless,  he  put  an 
end  to  Indian  hostilities.  Ever  after  this  all  the  Indian 
tribes  in  the  South  were  friendly  and  easily  controlled  by 
kindness  and  justice.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  at  once  fell  into  the  policy  adopted  by  General  Jack- 
son and  treated  them  as  wards  of  the  nation,  making  rules 
in  reference  to  their  lands — lands  actually  occupied  by  them 
— and  in  taxation,  which  lawyers  everywhere  recognize  as 
straining  the  law  in  favor  of  a  helpless  and  dependent  peo- 
ple. Up  to  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  this  country  and 
the  formation  of  our  Government,  savages  had  been  called 
"infidels"  and  outlawed  by  extermination. 

The  people  of  Tennessee   rightfully   regarded   General 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  387 

Jackson's  service  in  securing  the  confidence  of  his  Govern- 
ment to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  given  so  large  a  discre- 
tion, and  his  diplomatic  wisdom  in  settling  all  the  questions 
about  land  claims  as  among  the  wisest  of  the  many  wise 
things  he  did. 

On  his  return  to  Nashville,  in  1816,  after  having  closed 
up  this  delicate  business  with  the  Southern  Indian  tribes, 
and  when  the  Government  had  approved  all  he  had  done, 
and  preparatory  to  his  reception,  the  leading  paper  in  Nash- 
ville said : 

"This  great  and  glorious  termination  of  a  business  that 
hung  over  this  section  of  the  Union  like  a  portentous  cloud, 
deserves  to  be  commemorated;  and  we  hope  that  suitable 
arrangements  will  be  made  by  the  citizens  of  Tennessee  to 
receive  the  General  on  his  return  with  that  eclat  he  so  richly 
merits,  and  that  no  time  will  be  lost  in  returning  thanks  tc 
the  officers  of  the  General  Government  for  their  prompt 
attention  to  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  citizens  of  Ten- 
nessee." 

At  this  time,  and  long  after,  it  was  generally  said  that 
General  Jackson  never  left  home  without  returning,  having 
done  some  great  service  for  the  nation  or  the  State  worthy 
of  additional  public  honors;  indeed,  General  Jackson  had 
now  reached  the  point  where  great  actors  on  the  theater  of 
public  life  become  dangerous — dangerous  when  their  ambi- 
tion outruns  their  patriotism.  If  Tennessee  had  been  a 
political  entity  without  any  Federal  relations,  Jackson  with- 
out an  army  could  have  been  made  dictator. 

At  this  time  Parton  says  of  him : 

"It  is  not  possible  to  overstate  his  popularity  in  his  own 
State.  He  was  its  pride,  toast,  and  glory.  Tennesseans 
felt  a  personal  interest  in  his  honor  and  success.  His  old 
enemies  either  sought  reconciliation  with  him  or  kept  their 


388  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

enmity  to  themselves.  His  rank  in  the  army,  too,  gave  him 
unequaled  social  eminence,  and  to  add  to  the  other  felici- 
ties of  his  lot  his  fortune  now  rapidly  increased,  as  the  entire 
income  of  his  estate  could  be  added  to  his  capital,  the  pay 
of  a  major  general  being  sufficient  for  the  support  of  his 
family.  He  was  forty-nine  years  old  in  1816.  He  had 
riches,  rank,  power,  renown,  and  all  in  full  measure.  Our 
old  friend.  'Andy,'  of  a  previous  page  has  prospered  in  the 
world.  What  will  he  do  in  his  altered  circumstances?" 


The  pregnant  inquiry,  "What  will  he  do  in  his  altered 
circumstances,"  after  the  compliment  to  his  great  popular- 
ity, was  only  a  suggestive  notice  that  there  will  be  an  after 
part. 

Such  a  prodigous  outburst  of  great  deeds  and  good  things 
for  Jackson,  as  is  here  given  by  Parton,  seems  from  start  to 
finish  to  be  upon  the  principle  that  a  fall,  to  be  serious  and 
hurtful,  must  be  from  a  great  elevation.  This  eulogy  on 
General  Jackson's  popularity,  riches,  rank,  power,  and 
renown,  a  superabundance  of  good  things,  to  those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  book,  is  a  sure  guarantee  that  a  postscript 
is  held  in  reserve  to  be  used  as  a  counter  irritant,  and  to 
show  what  a  resourceful  doctor  the  author  is.  The  reserve 
force  in  this  instance  was  an  attack  on  Jackson  for  a  corre- 
spondence between  him  and  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  and  in 
which  the  author  intensifies  and  makes  clear  his  malice  by 
interlarding  some  condiments  along  with  a  most  offensive 
dish.  The  dish  and  the  condiments  are  found  in  the  follow- 
ing characteristic  paragraphs : 

"His  patriotism  was  real,  but  his  personality  was  power- 
ful, and  the  two  were  so  intermingled  with  and  lost  in  one 
another  that  he  honestly  regarded  the  man  who  opposed 
him  as  an  enemy  to  virtue  and  to  his  country.  Conscious 
of  the  rectitude  of  his  intentions,  having  at  heart  the  honor 
and  interest  of  the  United  States,  and  unable  to  see  two  sides 
to  any  question,  he  could  attribute  a  difference  of  opinion 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  389 

only  to  moral  obliquity,  mental  incapacity,   ambition,  or 
spite. 

"The  reader  must  allow  for  this,  must  try  and  forgive  it; 
must  take  into  consideration  the  peculiar  race  whence  this 
man  sprung;  his  singular  career  hitherto,  and  the  frightful 
adulation  of  which  he  was  the  ceaseless  victim.  There  are 
millions  of  men  now  living  who  are  as  little  able  to  tolerate 
an  opinion  different  from  their  own,  as  little  able  to  bear 
censure,  as  General  Jackson  ever  was.  But  many  of  us 
conceal  this  weakness  of  ours  both  from  ourselves  and  from 
others.  We  do  not  fly  into  a  passion  when  censured,  and 
indite  vituperative  letters,  because  there  are  certain  artificial 
restraints  to  which  we  are  subject,  but  which  were  not 
known  to  this  frontier  General.  Nor  have  many  of  us  to 
endure  the  calamity  of  being  the  pride  and  favorite  of  a 
nation,  surrounded  by  flatterers,  cheered  by  crowds,  pre- 
sented with  swords  by  legislatures,  with  medals  by  Con- 
gress, with  silverware  by  ladies ;  sought  by  politicians, 
counseled  with  by  Presidents  and  deferred  to  by  Cabinets. 
Yet  how  many  of  us  find  it  easy  to  respect  the  understand- 
ing that  differs  from  us,  or  the  motives  that  condemn  us?" 

This  is  an  insidious  libel — a  libel  in  the  strict  legal  sense, 
for  which  Parton  would  have  been  liable  in  damages  to 
General  Jackson's  relatives.  To  say  of  a  man  who  had 
been  President  of  the  United  States,  elected  and  re-elected, 
and  whose  name  and  influence  made  two  other  men  Presi- 
dent, and  whose  public  life  in  its  devotion  to  the  principles 
on  which  the  Government  is  founded  had  made  him  the 
very  corner-stone  of  a  great  national  party,  "that  he  hon- 
estly regarded  any  man  who  opposed  him  as  an  enemy  to 
virtue  and  to  his  country,"  is  a  libel,  and  to  say  he  was  hon- 
est in  it  was  only  a  mean  way  of  denying  it. 

Scattered  all  through  the  book  are  these  libels  as  a  means 
of  degrading  him  by  the  vile  and  libelous  charge  of  extreme 
ignorance — "so  ignorant,"  as  he  says  in  another  place,  "that 
of  all  human  beings  he  was  the  least  fit  to  be  President  of 
the  United  States." 


390  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Then  what  is  to  be  thought  of  him  who  writes  the  biogra- 
phy of  a  man  more  beloved  for  his  deeds  of  heroism  and 
exalted  integrity  and  manly  virtues  than  perhaps  any  other 
American,  who  can  say  "he  was  unable  to  see  two  sides  of 
any  question,  he  could  attribute  a  difference  of  opinion  only 
to  moral  obliquity,  mental  incapacity,  ambition,  or  spite." 

Nothing  could  more  conclusively  show  the  malicious  pur- 
pose of  beclouding  the  name  of  him  whose  biography  the 
author  was  writing  than  the  facts  as  a  pretext  for  this  one 
of  the  many  literary  diabolisms  that  run  through  the  book. 

The  facts  are  these:  One  Major  Long,  an  engineer,  was 
dispatched  by  General  Jackson,  then  a  major  general,  to 
make  a  topographical  survey  of  a  part  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  a  service  admitted  to  be  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  major  general  of  the  Southern  division. 

While  General  Jackson  was  awaiting  a  report,  he  saw  in 
the  newspapers  that  Major  Long,  under  an  order  of  the 
Secretary  of  War,  was  surveying  the  New  York  Harbor, 
and  his  report  made  to  the  Secretary  of  War  was  published 
in  the  newspapers  without  being  transmitted  through  the 
General  who  had  ordered  the  survey. 

Jackson  thereupon  wrote  the  President,  remonstrating 
against  this  irregularity. 

Waiting  forty-nine  days  and  getting  no  answer — much 
more  than  the  time  needed  for  getting  a  reply — Jackson 
being  then  at  Nashville,  he,  through  his  Adjutant  General, 
issued  the  following  order: 

"DIVISION  ORDER,  ADJUTANT  GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 
"HEADQUARTERS  DIVISION  OF  THE  SOUTH, 
"NASHVILLE,  April  22,  1817. 

"The  Commanding  General  considers  it  due  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  subordination  which  ought  and  must  exist  in  an 
army,  to  prohibit  the  obedience  of  any  order  emanating 
from  the  Department  of  War  to  officers  of  this  division 
who  have  been  reported  and  assigned  to  duty,  unless  coming 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  391 

through  him  as  the  proper  organ  of  communication.  The 
object  of  this  order  is  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  a  circum- 
stance which  removed  an  important  officer  from  the  divis- 
ion without  the  knowledge  of  the  Commanding  General, 
and,  indeed,  when  he  supposed  that  officer  engaged  in  his 
official  duties,  and  anticipated  hourly  the  receipt  of  his 
official  reports  on  a  subject  of  grave  importance  to  his  com- 
mand ;  also  to  prevent  the  topographical  reports  from  being 
made  public  through  the  medium  of  the  newspapers,  as  was 
done  in  the  case  alluded  to,  thereby  enabling  the  army  to 
obtain  the  benefit  of  our  topographical  researches  as  soon 
as  the  General  Commanding,  who  is  responsible  for  the 
division. 

"Superior  officers  having  commands  assigned  them  are 
held  responsible  to  the  Government  for  the  character  and 
conduct  of  that  command,  and  it  might  as  well  be  justified 
in  an  officer  senior  in  command  to  give  orders  to  a  guard  on 
duty,  without  passing  that  order  through  the  officer  of  that 
guard,  as  that  the  Department  of  War  should  countermand 
the  arrangements  of  commanding  generals  without  giving 
their  orders  through  the  proper  channel. 

"To  acquiesce  in  such  a  course  would  be  a  tame  surrender 
of  military  rights  and  etiquette,  and  at  once  subvert  the 
established  principles  of  subordination  and  good  order. 
Obedience  to  the  lawful  commands  of  superior  officers  is 
constitutionally  and  morally  required;  but  there  is  a  chain 
of  communication  that  binds  the  military  compact  which,  if 
broken,  opens  the  door  to  disobedience  and  disrespect  and 
gives  loose  to  the  turbulent  spirits  who  are  ever  ready  to 
excite  a  mutiny.  All  physicians  able  to  perform  duty  who 
are  absent  on  furlough  will  forthwith  repair  to  their  respec- 
tive posts.  Commanding  officers  of  regiments  and  corps 
are  ordered  to  report  specially  all  officers  absent  from  duty 
on  the  3Oth  of  June  next,  and  their  cause  of  absence. 

"The  army  is  too  small  to  tolerate  idlers,  and  they  will 
be  dismissed  from  the  service. 

"By  order  of 

"MAJOR  GENERAL  JACKSON, 

"ROBERT   BUTLER,   Adjutant   General." 


392  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XXXII^ 

CONTINUATION    OF    THE    AFFAIR    WITH    GENERAL    SCOTT 

JACKSON  NOTIFIES  SCOTT  THAT  HE  IS  READY  TO  RECEIVE 
ANY   COMMUNICATION  SENT. 

A  CLEAR  statement  of  the  facts,  in  addition  to  what 
was  said  in  the  last  chapter  explanatory  of  Parton's 
vituperation  of  Jackson  in  defense  of  General  Scott, 
in  the  controversy  growing  out  of  General  Jackson's  order 
already  published  in  Chapter  XXXI,  seems  to  be  necessary 
here;  for,  indeed,  Jackson  in  all  his  after  life  was  wantonly 
assailed  by  his  enemies  about  it,  especially  by  army  officers, 
who  never  found  out  that  his  military  genius  and  unex- 
ampled victories  over  the  country's  enemies  at  all  justified 
the  making  a  major  general  out  of  a  backwoodsman.  A 
fair  and  full  statement  of  the  basis  on  which  Parton  rests 
his  attack  on  Jackson  and  his  defense  of  General  Scott  will 
do  two  things :  It  will  serve  to  show  the  animus  with  which 
he  wrote  the  "Life  of  General  Jackson,"  and  will  put  in  an 
enduring  form  a  complete  answer  to  long  continued  assail  - 
ments  of  the  great  soldier's  character,  made  with  no  con- 
cern about  true  history,  so  it  answers  a  purpose. 

As  shown  in  the  last  preceding  chapter,  an  order  from 
the  President  of  the  United  States  removed  an  engineer 
under  General  Jackson  from  the  work  to  which  he  was 
assigned,  without  the  order  passing  through  the  hands  of 
his  superior  officer.  Against  this  irregularity  General  Jack- 
son remonstrated  in  a  letter  directly  to  the  President. 
Waiting  much  longer  than  it  required  to  get  a  reply,  and 
hearing  nothing,  the  General  issued  a  general  order,  pub- 
lished in  the  last  preceding  chapter,  which  attracted  great 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  393 

attention,  as  it  in  terms  forbade  subordinates  under  him 
obeying  orders  which  did  not  pass  through  his  hands.  This 
order  was  neither  approved  nor  disapproved,  but  remained 
without  notice  until  in  August  the  President  made  an  order 
on  General  Ripley,  an  officer  under  General  Jackson.  Gen- 
eral Jackson  promptly  ordered  General  Ripley  to  disobey 
the  order  from  the  President,  which  he  did,  and  at  once 
assumed  the  responsibility  of  this  disobedience,  and  wrote 
the  President  on  the  I2th  of  August,  commending  the  dis- 
obedience of  General  Ripley  and  justifying  his  own  conduct. 
He  said  to  the  President : 

"In  the  view  I  took  on  this  subject  on  the  4th  of  March, 
I  had  flattered  myself  you  would  coincide,  and  had  hoped  to 
receive  your  answer  before  a  recurrence  of  a  similar  infring- 
ment  of  military  rule  rendered  it  necessary  for  me  to  call 
your  attention  thereto.  None  are  infallible  in  their  opin- 
ions, but  it  is  nevertheless  necessary  that  all  should  act 
agreeably  to  their  convictions  of  right.  My  convictions  in 
favor  of  the  course  I  have  pursued  are  strong,  and,  should  it 
become  necessary,  I  will  willingly  meet  a  fair  investigation 
before  a  military  tribunal.  The  good  of  the  service  and 
the  dignity  of  the  commission  I  hold,  alone  actuate  me. 
My  wishes  for  retirement  have  already  been  known  to  you, 
but,  under  existing  circumstances,  my  duty  to  the  officers 
of  my  division  forbids  it  until  this  subject  is  fairly  under- 
stood." 

Shortly  after  the  retirement  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 
Mr.  Calhoun  taking  his  place,  the  sharp  issue  was  brought 
to  a  head  by  the  new  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Calhoun, 
making  the  following  order : 

"On  ordinary  occasions  orders  from  that  department 
would  issue  only  to  the  commanding  generals  of  the  divis- 
ions, and  in  cases  where  the  service  required  a  different 
course  the  general-in-chief  would  be  notified  of  the  order 
with  as  little  delay  as  possible." 


394  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

In  addition,  Mr.  Calhoun  wrote  General  Jackson  a  pri- 
vate letter,  fully  commending  his  course.  This  letter  was 
the  foundation  of  a  close,  warm  friendship  between  General 
Jackson  and  Mr.  Calhoun  until  the  rupture,  in  1831,  which 
led  to  breaking  up  the  cabinet.  The  immediate  cause  of  the 
rupture  with  General  Scott  came  about  as  follows : 

On  the  3d  of  September,  1817,  General  Jackson  received 
an  anonymous  letter,  dated  August  14,  1817,  as  follows: 

"Your  late  order  has  been  the  subject  of  much  private, 
and  some  public  remark.  The  war  office  gentry  and  their 
adherents,  pensioners  and  expectants,  have  all  been  busy, 
but  no  one  (of  sufficient  mark  for  your  notice)  more  than 
Major  General  Scott,  who,  I  am  creditably  informed,  goes 
so  far  as  to  call  the  order  in  question  an  act  of  mutiny.  In 
this  district  he  is  the  organ  of  government  insinuations  and 
the  supposed  author  of  the  paper  enclosed,  which,  however 
(the  better  to  cover  him),  was  not  published  until  he  had 
left  this  city  for  the  lakes.  Be  on  your  guard.  As  they 
have  placed  spies  upon  Brown  here,  so  it  is  probable  that 
you  are  not  without  them.  The  Eastern  Federalists  have 
now  all  become  good  Republicans,  and  pledged  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  President,  as  he  to  them.  Government  can  now 
do  well  without  the  aid  of  Tennessee,  etc.  'A  word  to  the 
wise  is  enough.' " 

There  was  enclosed  in  this  letter  an  offensive  article  from 
the  New  York  Columbian,  asserting  that  the  celebrated 
order  of  the  22d  of  April  was  an  insult  to  the  Government. 

At  this  time  General  Jackson  had  no  personal  acquaint- 
ance with,  and  had  never  seen  General  Scott,  but  at  once 
wrote  him  the  following  note : 

"HEADQUARTERS  DIVISION  OF  THE  SOUTH, 

NASHVILLE,  September  8,  1817. 

"Sir:  With  that  candor  due  the  character  you  have  sus- 
tained as  a  soldier  and  a  man  of  honor,  and  with  the  frank- 
ness of  the  latter,  I  address  you : 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  395 

"Enclosed  is  a  copy  of  an  anonymous  letter,  postmarked 
'New  York,  I4th  August,  1817,'  together  with  a  publica- 
tion taken  from  the  Columbian,  which  accompanied  the 
letter.  I  have  not  permitted  myself  for  a  moment  to  believe 
that  the  conduct  ascribed  to  you  is  correct.  Candor,  how- 
ever, induces  me  to  lay  them  before  you,  that  you  may  have 
it  in  your  power  to  say  how  far  they  be  correctly  stated.  If 
my  order  has  been  the  subject  of  your  animadversion,  it  is 
believed  you  will  at  once  admit  it  and  the  extent  to  which 
you  may  have  gone. 

"I  am,  sir,  respectfully,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

"ANDREW  JACKSON. 

"Gen.  W.  Scott,  U.  S.  Army." 

General  Scott  answered  this  letter,  and  said  he  had 
expressed  the  opinion,  and  still  held  the  opinion,  that  the 
order  in  question  was  of  a  mutinous  tendency.  "Convers- 
ing," said  General  Scott,  "with  some  two  or  three  private 
gentlemen,  about  as  many  times,  on  the  subject  of  the  divis- 
ion order,  dated  at  Nashville,  April  22,  1817,  it  is  true  that 
I  gave  it  as  my  opinion  that  the  paper  was,  as  it  respected 
the  future,  mutinous  in  its  character  and  tendency,  and,  as 
it  respected  the  past,  a  reprimand  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief ,  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  for  although  the 
latter  be  not  expressly  named,  it  is  a  principle  well  under- 
stood that  the  War  Department,  without  at  least  his  sup- 
posed sanction,  could  never  give  a  valid  command  to  an 
ensign." 

He  further  said,  continuing  his  letter,  the  whole  being 
bombastic  and  full  of  advice  to  General  Jackson,  his  super- 
ior officer:  "I  have  nothing  to  fear  or  hope  from  either 
party.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  Executive  will  be  offended 
at  the  opinion  that  it  has  committed  an  irregularity  in  the 
transmissions  of  one  of  its  orders;  and  as  to  yourself, 
although  I  cheerfully  admit  that  you  are  my  superior,  I 
deny  that  you  are  my  commanding  officer,  within  the  mean- 
ing of  the  sixth  article  of  the  Rules  and  Articles  of  War. 


396  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

Even  if  I  had  belonged  to  your  division,  I  should  not  hesi- 
tate to  repeat  to  you  all  that  I  have  said,  at  any  time,  on 
your  subject,  if  a  proper  occasion  offered.  And  what  is 
more,  I  should  expect  your  approbation,  as,  in  my  humble 
judgment,  refutation  is  impossible." 

To  this  letter  General  Jackson  made  a  lengthy  reply.  It 
was  this  letter,  as  well  as  the  general  order,  that  drew  fortb 
the  severe  castigation  of  Parton,  the  biographer,  who  says : 

"To  this  moderate,  proper,  and  gentlemanly  letter  of 
General  Scott,  General  Jackson  sent  a  reply  of  so  incredi- 
ble a  character  that  when  it  was  paraded  in  the  campaign  of 
1824  many  pronounced  it  a  forgery,  a  weak  invention  of 
the  enemy  to  influence  votes.  But  no,  it  was  really  written 
and  dispatched  by  General  Jackson,  and  what  is  more,  he 
thought  so  well  of  the  performance  as  to  furnish  a  copy  for 
publication,  and  that,  too,  at  a  time  when  no  one  called  for 
it  and  few  kneAv  of  its  existence." 

Parton  continues:  "There  is  no  justifying  General  Jack- 
son's conduct  to  General  Scott  in  this  correspondence;  it 
was  ridiculous.  It  exhibits  the  worst  weakness  of  his  char- 
acter in  a  striking  light." 

Before  reading  this  letter  of  General  Jackson's,  let  it  be 
remembered,  not  as  Parton  puts  it,  that  he  could  not,  on 
account  of  mental  obliquity,  see  two  sides  of  a  question; 
he  could  only  attribute  a  difference  of  opinion  to  mental 
incapacity,  ambition  or  spite,  but  on  the  contrary,  let  it  be 
remembered  that  General  Jackson  in  the  anonymous  letter, 
and  in  the  admission  of  General  Scott,  had  the  proof  that 
he  —  General  Scott  —  speaking  of  a  superior  officer,  as  he 
admits  General  Jackson  to  be,  he  being  a  brevet  major 
general,  not  only  used  offensive  and  approbrious  language 
about  him,  but  was,  in  open,  blatant  conversation,  accusing 
his  superior  officer  of  mutiny,  and  at  the  head  of  an  army 
clique  had  set  spies  on  General  Brown,  the  other  major  gen- 
eral, and  had  the  information  that  General  Scott,  at  the 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  397 

head  of  this  clique,  was  guilty  of  insubordination  of  the 
most  grievous  character,  stirring  up  the  "war  office  gentry 
and  their  adherents,  pensioners  and  expectants,"  to  a  busy 
attack  on  him. 

Let  it  be  further  understood  that  General  Jackson  well 
knew  that  in  the  estimation  of  this  crowd  of  war-office  gen- 
try his  appointment  of  Major  General  was  a  never-ending 
offense,  and  that  his  great  service  in  saving  the  country 
from  deep  humiliation  was  an  aggravation  of  the  offense 
of  being  Major  General,  rather  than  a  virtue. 

Under  the  existing  facts  the  letter  was  thoroughly  Jack- 
sonian,  and  I  here  give  parts  of  it  as  follows : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  DIVISION  OF  THE  SOUTH, 
"NASHVILLE,  December  3,  1817. 

"Sir:  I  have  been  absent  from  this  place  for  a  consider- 
able time,  rendering  the  last  friendly  office  I  could  to  a  par- 
ticular friend,  whose  eyes  I  closed  on  the  2Oth  ultimo. 
Owing  to  this  your  letter  of  the  I4th  of  October  was  not 
received  until  the  ist  instant. 

"Upon  receipt  of  the  anonymous  letter  mailed  from  New 
York  I  hastened  to  lay  it  before  you.  That  course  was 
suggested  to  me  by  the  respect  I  had  for  you  as  a  man  and  a 
soldier,  and  that  you  might  have  it  in  your  power  to  answer 
how  far  you  had  been  guilty  of  so  base  and  inexcusable 
conduct.  Independent  of  the  services  you  have  rendered 
your  country,  the  circumstances  of  you  wearing  the  badge 
and  insignia  of  a  soldier  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  I  was 
addressing  a  gentleman.  With  these  feelings  you  were 
written  to;  and  had  an  idea  been  for  a  moment  entertained 
that  you  could  have  descended  from  the  high  and  dignified 
character  of  a  Major  General  of  the  United  States,  and 
used  language  so  approbrious  and  insolent  as  you  have 
done,  rest  assured  I  should  have  viewed  you  as  rather  too 
contemptible  to  have  held  any  converse  with  you  on  the 
subject.  If  you  have  lived  in  the  world  thus  long  in  entire 
ignorance  of  the  obligations  and  duties  which  honor  im- 
pose, you  are  indeed  past  the  time  of  learning,  and  surely 


398  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

he  must  be  ignorant  who  seems  so  little  under  their  influ- 
ence. 

"Pray,  sir,  does  your  recollection  serve  in  what  school 
of  philosophy  you  were  taught,  that,  to  a  letter  inquiring 
into  the  nature  of  a  supposed  injury,  and  clothed  in  lan- 
guage decorous  and  unquestionable,  an  answer  should  be 
given  couched  in  insolence  and  bullying  expression?  I 
had  hoped  that  what  was  charged  upon  you  by  my  anony- 
mous correspondent  was  unfounded.  I  had  hoped  so  from 
a  belief  that  General  Scott  was  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman. 
But  when  I  see  those  statements  doubly  confirmed  by  his 
own  words,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  inquiry,  how  far  a  man 
of  honorable  feelings  can  reconcile  them  to  himself,  or 
longer  set  up  a  claim  to  that  character. 

"In  terms,  polite  as  I  was  capable  of  writing,  I  asked 
you  if  my  informant  had  stated  truly?  If  you  were  the 
author  of  the  publication  and  remarks  charged  against  you, 
and  to  what  extent?  A  reference  to  your  letter,  without 
any  comment  of  mine,  will  inform  how  far  you  have  pur- 
sued a  similar  course;  how  little  of  the  gentleman  and  how 
much  of  the  hectoring  bully  you  have  manifested.  If  noth- 
ing else  would,  the  epaulets  which  grace  your  shoulders 
should  have  dictated  to  you  a  different  course,  and  have 
admonished  you  that,  however  small  may  have  been  your 
respect  for  another,  respect  for  yourself  should  have  taught 
you  the  necessity  of  replying,  at  least  mildly,  to  the  inquir- 
ies I  suggested;  and  more  especially  should  you  have  done 
this,  when  your  own  convictions  must  have  fixed  you  as 
guilty  of  the  abominable  crime  of  detraction,  of  slandering, 
and  behind  his  back,  a  brother  officer.  But  not  content 
with  answering  to  what  was  proposed,  your  overweening 
vanity  has  led  you  to  make  an  offering  of  your  advice. 
Believe  me,  sir,  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  render  you  my 
thanks.  I  think  too  highly  of  myself  to  suppose  that  I 
stand  at  all  in  need  of  your  admonitions,  and  too  lightly  of 
you  to  appreciate  them  as  useful. 

"I  shall  not  stoop,  sir,  to  a  justification  of  my  order 
before  you,  or  to  notice  the  weakness  and  absurdities  of 
your  tinsel  rhetoric.  It  may  be  quite  conclusive  with  your- 
self, and  I  have  no  disposition  to  attempt  convincing  you 
that  your  ingenuity  is  not  as  profound  as  you  have  imag- 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  399 

ined  it.  To  my  Government,  whenever  it  may  please,  I 
hold  myself  liable  to  answer,  and  to  produce  the  reasons 
which  prompted  me  to  the  course  I  took;  and  to  the  inter- 
meddling pimps  and  spies  of  the  War  Department,  who  are 
in  the  garb  of  gentlemen,  I  hold  myself  responsible  for  any 
grievance  they  may  labor  under  on  my  account,  with  which 
you  have  my  permission  to  number  yourself.  For  what  I 
have  said  I  offer  no  apology.  You  have  deserved  it  all  and 
more,  were  it  necessary  to  say  more.  I  will  barely  remark, 
in  conclusion,  that  if  you  feel  yourself  aggrieved  at  what  is 
here  said,  any  communication  from  you  will  reach  me  safely 
at  this  place. 

"I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient 
servant,  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

"Brevet  Major  General  W.  Scott,  U.  S.  A.,  New  York." 

This  chapter  in  American  history  is  made  the  occasion 
by  Parton  of  repeating  over  and  over  the  justice  and  fair- 
ness of  General  Scott's  conduct,  and  General  Jackson  is 
held  up  to  the  readers  of  the  only  biography  ever  written 
with  defamation  as  a  leading  purpose.  In  the  face  of  these 
facts,  Parton  says  General  Scott's  reply  to  General  Jack- 
son's first  letter  asking  for  information  as  to  the  anonymous 
letter  was  "everything  it  should  have  been.  It  was  candid, 
courteous,  explicit."  And  he  introduces  his  chapter  of 
censure  by  heading  it : 

"HOSTILE  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GEN.  WINFIELD  SCOTT." 

And  opens  it  by  an  incidental  reference  to  a  correspond- 
ence with  President  Monroe  by  saying:  "General  Jackson 
had  scarcely  dispatched  the  last  of  his  lofty  dispassionate 
epistles  to  Mr.  Monroe  before  he  was  involved  in  a  corre- 
spondence that  was  neither  lofty  nor  dispassionate.  It  was 
as  though  he  had  said  to  himself,  "These  fine  letters  that  I 
have  been  writing  may  lead  these  Washington  gentlemen 
into  the  opinion  that  I  am  a  mild  philosopher  in  epaulets. 
I  must  now  do  something  to  correct  that  absurd  impression, 


400  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

or,  it  was  as  though  looking  into  the  future,  he  had  been 
seized  with  sudden  compassion  for  the  readers  of  his  biog- 
raphy, and  said : 

"After  the  Monroe  correspondence  they  shall  have  some- 
thing more  spirited  and  Jacksonian." 

I  have  taken  some  pains  to  put  in  shape  and  make  easy 
of  comprehension  the  entire  affair  with  General  Scott,  and 
also  to  extract  from  Parton  some  portions  of  his  diatribe 
against  General  Jackson,  and  for  two  purposes — to  show 
the  evil-mindedness  of  Parton  in  writing  a  life  of  Jackson, 
one  object  of  which  was  to  befoul  and  defame  the  character 
of  a  man  long  since  dead ;  and  the  other,  to  give  by  one 
single  illustration,  elements  in  the  great  man's  make-up 
which  truly  show  his  real  character. 

In  all  the  researches  I  have  made,  nothing  strikes  me 
with  more  force  in  the  one  great  purpose  I  have  of  giving 
to  the  world  the  true  character  of  a  man  whose  glorious 
triumphs  in  both  civil  and  military  life  will,  I  trust,  outlive 
the  defamation  of  his  evil-minded  biographer.  No  language 
suited  to  go  in  a  book,  can  be  used  here  to  properly  charac- 
terize one,  deeply  prejudiced  against  a  man  who  has  per- 
formed public  service,  who  constitutes  himself  a  biographer 
of  such  public  servant,  after  his  death,  for  the  double  pur- 
pose of  making  money,  and  at  the  same  time  of  inflicting  a 
lasting  injury  on  his  reputation.  It  is  probable  that  no 
other  American  writer  of  sufficient  ability  to  attract  atten- 
tion could  have  been  found  with  such  debased  literary  pro- 
pensities. 

The  defiant  recklessness  of  Parton  to  defame  Jackson  is 
absolutely  without  the  semblance  of  an  excuse.  The  vile 
attack  on  Jackson  about  the  general  order  made  by  him 
that  his  subordinates  should  obey  no  order  that  did  not  pass 
through  his  department,  was  so  eminently  and  notoriously 
sound  that,  the  veriest  tyro  in  the  army,  having  his  attention 
called  to  it,  would  approve  it,  and  it  was  the  making  of  this 
order  that  became  a  license  for  General  Scott  to  put  himself 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  401 

at  the  head  of  the  "war  office  gentry  and  their  adherents, 
pensioners  and  expectants" — to  pour  out  a  flood  of  abuse 
on  the  man  from  the  backwoods  who  had  dared  accept  a 
commission  of  major  general,  ranking  the  men  who  had 
long  worn  uniform  and  had  cereificates  that  they  had  read 
books  on  military  service. 

And  Parton  wrote  this  libel  with  a  full  knowledge  that 
Mr.  Calhoun,  as  Secretary  of  War,  of  course  with  the 
approval  of  the  President,  had  sustained  General  Jackson 
by  making  a  general  order  in  the  War  Department  fully 
approving  the  principle  of  Jackson's  general  order,  and  with 
a  full  knowledge  that  Mr.  Calhoun  was  so  impressed  with 
General  Jackson's  noble  courage  in  making  the  order  that 
he  was  not  content  with  an  official  act  approving  it,  but 
emphasized  his  appreciation  of  it  by  writing  a  private  letter 
—  a  letter  of  commendation  for  his  courage  in  the  discharge 
of  duty. 

He  also  knew  that,  while  the  President  had  shown  his 
confidence  in  General  Jackson  by  inviting  his  counsel  in  the 
most  delicate  matters  the  Government  had  to  deal  with,  this 
confidence  and  esteem  were  greatly  enhanced  by  Jackson's 
fearless  discharge  of  duty  in  this  affair,  and  that  ever  after 
General  Jackson  was  the  one  man  he  could  rely  on  in  any 
department  of  the  Government,  civil  or  military,  that  when, 
soon  after,  he  wanted  the  Seminole  murderers  in  the 
swamps  of  Florida  suppressed,  he  sent  General  Jackson  to 
do  it.  And  when  he  wanted  a  Governor  for  Florida  after 
the  purchase,  there  was  none  so  fitted  for  it  as  Jackson; 
and  when  the  Administration  was  divided  on  Jackson's 
policy  in  the  execution  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  the 
President  was  his  fast  friend. 

But  the  letter  of  the  3d  of  September,  1817,  in  reply  to 
General  Scott's  letter  of  October  4th,  opens  the  door  for 
Mr.  Parton's  liveliest  exploits  in  defaming  the  man  whose 
biography  he  was  writing,  with  malice  aforethought. 


402  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

The  life  of  Jackson  would  not  be  complete  without  this 
letter.  It  is  thoroughly  Jacksonian,  as  much  so  as  disobey- 
ing the  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War  and  bringing  his 
army  back  to  Tennessee  from  Natchez;  as  much  so  as  dis- 
obeying the  order  of  the  Governor  to  return  to  Tennessee 
from  the  Creek  Nation  to  defend  the  frontiers ;  as  much  so 
as  taking  all  the  responsibility  on  himself,  when  the  Gov- 
ernment refused  to  give  him  orders  to  go  into  friendly 
territory  and  depose  the  Spanish  Governor  and  destroy  the 
forts  occupied  by  the  British;  as  much  so  as  fighting  the 
battles  of  New  Orleans;  as  much  so  as  imprisoning  Hall. 
These  were  all  Jacksonian,  but  not  more  so  than  this  letter. 

No  other  general  could  probably  have  written  the  letter. 
In  fact,  no  other  man  approaches  him  in  the  daring  with 
which  he  did  things,  and  no  other  man  approaches  him  in 
his  successes.  It  is  this  that  is  turning  the  public  mind  to  a 
"Jacksonian  period,"  as  distinguished  from  the  public 
service  of  all  other  men.  The  intimation  of  Parton  that 
this  letter  was  written  because  "he  regarded  every  man  who 
opposed  him  as  an  enemy  to  virtue  and  his  country,"  is  vile 
and  malicious  defamation. 

Jackson  knew  men  —  he  could  weigh  and  measure  men 
as  no  other  man  could.  The  proof  he  had  that  General 
Scott  was  at  the  head  of  the  war-office  gentry — who  were 
busy  in  assailing  him  —  and  charging  that  his  conduct  was 
mutinous,  and  this  on  the  streets  and  in  public,  while  they 
were  both  officers  in  the  United  States  Army,  and  Jackson 
his  superior ;  and  when,  if  he  succeeded  in  his  purpose,  he, 
Scott,  would  probably  be  on  the  court-martial  to  try  him, 
some  officers  might  have  passed  over,  but  not  Jackson. 
With  him  the  order  was  absolutely  right,  and  General  Scott 
knew  it  when  he  was  preaching  mutiny  to  the  populace, 
and  he  knew  it  was  to  inflame  the  public  and  to  move  up 
the  war-office  gentry  and  to  get  clear  of  a  backwoods  major 
general. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  403 

He  knew  all  this  when  he  wrote  the  letter,  and,  as  he 
says,  General  Scott  deserved  it  all  and  more. 

There  is  something  peculiarly  grievous  to  the  friends  and 
admirers  of  a  man  who  did  as  much  for  his  country  as 
Jackson  did,  in  finding  that  a  biographer  all  through  the 
book  had  scattered  the  seeds  of  a  poison  that  has  more  or 
less  inoculated  the  reading  people  in  all  countries  —  inocu- 
lated superficial  readers,  men  in  high  places,  until  such  a 
man  as  Bishop  Potter,  in  a  sermon,  berated  the  Democratic 
party  for  its  descent  from  "Jeffers°man  simplicity  to  Jack- 
sonian  vulgarity."  And  actually  supposed  he  was  saying  a 
thing  that  had  some  truth  in  it.  This  was  a  distinguished 
bishop,  who  was  simply  trying  his  hand  on  a  euphonious 
expression  which  he  thought  Parton's  book  authorized. 


404  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

JACKSON'S  CRITICS  IN  IGNORANCE  OF  HIS  REAL  CHARACTER 
—  BISHOP  POTTER'S  FAMED  "JEFFERSONIAN  SIMPLICITY 

TO  JACKSONIAN  VULGARITY" OTHER  DISTINGUISHED 

WRITERS JACKSON  WROTE  HIS  OWN   STATE  PAPERS 

PROVED. 

MORE  than  at  any  time  since  I  commenced  the 
investigation  of  the  life  and  character  of  Andrew 
Jackson,  do  I  realize  the  need  of  a  true  and  truth- 
ful book  which  may,  to  some  extent,  counteract  the  influence 
of  Parton's  "Life."  This  book  has  not  only  given  men  like 
Bishop  Potter,  whose  domain  is  among  the  spirits  and  with 
whom  the  euphony  of  speech,  with  the  grace  of  manner,  is 
the  highest  excellence,  an  opportunity  for  a  contemptuous 
utterance  about  the  man  who  saved  the  country  from  deep- 
est humiliation ;  but  the  book  is  the  text  which  biographers, 
like  Schurz  in  his  "Life  of  Clay,"  and  Lodge  in  his  "Life 
of  Webster,"  use  in  defaming  the  great  Southern  soldier 
and  statesman. 

If  Bishop  Potter  had  desired  to  delineate  character,  true 
character,  of  men  who  had  reached  high  places,  instead  of 
a  display  of  rhetoric,  he  should  have  looked  beyond  Parton, 
whose  utterances  are  discredited  by  the  prejudice  shown  all 
through  the  book.  If  he  had,  he  would  have  found  a  man 
whose  lifetime  friends  say  he  never  told  a  vulgar  anecdote; 
whose  words,  though  sometimes  severe,  were  always  chaste ; 
a  man  with  a  warm  and  generous  heart,  who  loved  little 
children  arid  hated  hypocrites ;  a  man  of  devout  and  humble 
spirit,  who  in  his  inner  nature  was  a  much  more  sincere 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  405 

worshiper  at  the  feet  of  the  Master  than  careless  critics 
admit,  and  who  through  his  whole  life,  in  his  admirable 
letters  to  dear  friends,  almost  invariably  closed  them  with  a 
prayer  and  a  reliance  on  our  "merciful  Heavenly  Father." 
He  would  have  found  a  man  who  not  only  with  his  strong 
right  arm  in  the  presence  of  his  enemies  ran  the  flag  of  his 
country  higher  than  any  other  man  before  or  since,  but  as 
defender  of  the  helpless  and  with  but  one  earthly  idol  — 
woman  —  was  supreme  among  men;  and  then  the  gifted 
Bishop  might  have  gone  farther  and  found  that  the  man 
who  knew  him  best  —  Judge  McNairy  —  who  brought 
him  to  Tennessee,  who  roomed  with  him  at  Salisbury,  North 
Carolina,  and  roomed  with  him  at  Nashville,  and  who  trav- 
eled with  him  from  court  to  court,  one  judge  and  the  other 
attorney  general,  said  of  him,  that  with  women  he  was  the 
most  exemplary  man  he  had  ever  known.  One  thing  is 
true,  that  if  he  had  stopped  to  think  for  one  moment  he 
would  have  known  that  such  a  husband  as  Jackson  was, 
with  such  a  wife  as  he  had,  could  never  be  a  vulgar  man. 

The  rhetorical  slang  of  Bishop  Potter,  as  shown  in  the 
next  preceding  chapter,  "From  Jeffersonian  simplicity  to 
Jacksonian  vulgarity,"  was  doubtless  nothing  more  than  a 
pulpit  blast  at  Democracy  as  he  sees  it  —  a  gilded  expression 
at  the  secrifice  of  truth. 

The  other  two  writers,  Mr.  Schurz  and  Mr.  Lodge,  can- 
not be  let  off  so  lightly.  For  these  two  biographers,  famil- 
iar as  they  were  with  well-established  facts,  the  testimony 
of  witnesses  who  have  lived  in  their  time,  and  the  public 
records  with  which  they  are  both  familiar,  to  accept  Parton's 
splenetic  diatribes  about  Jackson's  ignorance  and  unfitness 
for  places  of  public  trust,  and  become  the  retailers  of  his 
defamation,  can  only  be  accounted  for  on  one  of  two  theo- 
ries —  a  ready  acceptance  without  investigation  of  a  suspi- 
cious author's  sayings,  or  a  willingness  to  perpetuate  the 
sectional  unkindness  so  long  felt  in  New  England,  especially 


406  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

among  the  war-office  gentry,  against  Jackson  for  being  a 
Major  General  in  the  United  States  Army. 

In  following  Parton,  and  assuming  that  General  Jackson 
was  ignorant,  perverse  and  impracticable,  certain  implica- 
tions must  be  carried  along,  utterly  inconsistent  with  another 
trait  conceded  by  both  friend  and  foe  —  that  he  was  self- 
willed  in  a  high  degree,  and  his  enemies  say  absolutely 
uncontrollable. 

In  the  first  place,  to  degrade  this  great  soldier  and  refuse 
him  the  conspicuous  place  in  history  to  which  his  services 
entitle  him,  is  unjust,  because  it  must  be  assumed  that  in  a 
life  of  long  continued  public  service  as  a  soldier,  ever  busy 
in  making  orders  to  be  read  to  his  army  and  in  reports  to 
his  Government,  and  in  contentions  with  men  at  the  head, 
giving  out  over  his  signature  official  and  semi-official  docu- 
ments, he  did  more  writing  than  any  general  the  country 
has  had.  Indeed,  it  is  probable  no  general  in  any  country 
in  the  same  time  was  so  frequently  before  the  public  in  an 
official  way  as  he.  By  his  voluminous  writings  let  him  be 
tried  like  other  men. 

As  a  civilian,  holding  places  of  public  trust,  in  making  a 
State  government,  and  in  administering  the  government 
whose  honor  he  had  upheld  as  no  other  man  had,  he  was  for 
eight  years  a  voluminous  writer.  His  state  papers  are 
exhaustive  and  embrace  a  discussion  of  all  the  great  ques- 
tions that  agitated  the  public  mind  through  a  period  when 
great  questions  were  being  handled  by  intellectual  giants, 
and  the  notable  fact  is  that  whatever  his  enemies  say  about 
him  through  all  that  period  known  as  the  "Jacksonian 
period,"  no  one  of  them  ever  claimed  that  he  was  a  weak 
man.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  the  head  and  front,  the  body 
and  the  brains,  and  the  acknowledged  leader  in  and  orig- 
inator of  issues  which  brought  to  the  front  against  him  these 
forces  combined,  whose  talent  as  orators,  constitutional 
lawyers  and  statesmen,  enabled  them  to  mark  the  pages  of 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  407 

history  as  never  before  or  since,  and  through  it  all  this  com- 
bined talent  was  fighting  one  man — Andrew  Jackson.  The 
judgment  has  long  since  been  entered  in  his  favor  in  the 
great  issues  of  that  "Jaclcsonian  period"  in  the  public  mind. 

The  issues  made  by  Parton,  and  accepted  by  writers  who 
have  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  public  like  Schurz 
and  Lodge,  is  that  this  man  was  ignorant  —  extremely 
ignorant  —  and  did  not  write  or  dictate  the  official  papers 
to  which  his  name  is  signed,  and  which  have  attracted 
world-wide  attention.  Now,  I  submit  if  this  is  fair  —  deal- 
ing with  the  reputation  of  one  who  did  so  much  for  his 
country  and  displayed  such  power  when  living. 

The  proof  that  his  state  papers  were  written  by  others  is 
found  in  the  suggestive  negative,  several  times  repeated  by 
Parton,  that  VanBuren  and  Livingston  never  admitted  that 
they  wrote  his  state  papers.  The  innuendo  of  this  libel  is 
that  in  declining  to  acknowledge  it,  they  admitted  it.  A 
more  insidious  and  malicious  stab  at  character  has  not  been 
made.  That  Jackson  wrote  or  dictated  all  his  great  papers, 
with  a  sentence  now  and  then  polished  by  a  friend  whose 
touch  was  more  graceful,  is  proved  by  Colonel  Benton,  who 
had  better  advantages  to  know,  both  in  the  army  and  in  the 
Cabinet,  than  any  other  contemporary. 

Colonel  Benton  was  an  officer  under  him  in  the  army, 
served  with  him  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  was  in 
the  Senate,  and  Jackson's  closest  and  most  confidential  friend 
during  the  entire  eight  years  when  he  was  President. 

There  are  three  papers  that  are  not  left  in  doubt  as  to  the 
authorship,  and  they  are  among  the  ablest  papers  to  which 
General  Jackson's  signature  is  attached.  One  is  a  celebrated 
paper  which  Jackson  prepared  to  read  to  his  Cabinet  on 
removing  the  deposits  from  the  United  States  Bank.  This 
paper  was  the  subject  of  a  distinguished  controversy  in  the 
United  States  Senate,  by  which  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Calhoun,  and 
Mr.  Webster  sought  to  impeach  General  Jackson;  it  was 


408  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

the  memorandum  prepared  by  General  Jackson  for  his 
Cabinet,  giving  his  view  of  the  law  and  his  reasons  for 
removing  the  deposits  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Clay  offered  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  to  have  General 
Jackson  furnish  a  copy  of  this  paper.  Jackson's  reply  over- 
whelmed the  Senate,  in  which  he  showed  that  the  Senate 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  paper  —  that  it  was  his  memo- 
randum, prepared  by  him,  given  to  the  Cabinet,  why  and 
upon  what  ground  he  proposed  to  remove  the  deposits,  and 
Mr.  Clay  came  nearer  making  himself  ridiculous  by  offering 
this  resolution  than  perhaps  by  anything  he  did  in  his  whole 
life.  I  now  refer  to  this  paper  alone  for  the  purpose  of 
meeting  the  charge  that  General  Jackson  did  not  write  his 
state  papers,  and  that  he  was  incompetent  to  write.  This 
paper  will  be  published  in  full  when  I  reach  that  point  in 
the  history  of  that  bank  question,  and  it  is  generally  con- 
ceded to  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  the  great  state  papers 
to  which  General  Jackson's  name  is  attached. 

I  say  it  is  generally  conceded ;  the  truth  is,  General  Jack- 
son treated  it  in  the  controversy  that  came  in  Congress 
about  it  as  a  mere  memorandum  written  by  him  for  his 
Cabinet,  and  this  is  what  put  Mr.  Clay  in  the  predicament 
he  was,  for  this  was  manifestly  true  as  Jackson  put  it  —  it 
was  a  memorandum  which  he  wrote  to  be  used  in  what  he 
had  to  say  to  his  Cabinet  about  the  question  he  had  to  deal 
with,  and  the  whole  history  of  it,  and  Jackson's  treatment 
of  it,  and  his  triumphant  victory  over  Mr.  Clay,  and  because 
it  was  his  own  memorandum,  which  impress  it  as  his  paper, 
and  not  the  paper  of  a  member  of  his  Cabinet,  nor  his 
Secretary. 

There  is  another  paper  which  comes  aptly,  and  conclu- 
sively settles  that  General  Jackson  was  capable  of  writing 
whatever  he  wanted  to  write,  and  in  a  style  not  inferior  to 
the  best.  I  refer  now  to  his  South  Carolina  Proclamation. 
This  celebrated  paper  was  written  by  himself,  as  is  shown 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  409 

by  both  Mr.  Benton  and  William  B.  Lewis.  They  both 
testified  that  they  were  present,  and  saw  him  when  he  was 
writing  this  paper  and  throwing  off  the  leaves  so  rapidly 
that  they  were  scattered  over  the  table  that  they  might  dry 
before  put  up.  This  celebrated  paper,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  William  B.  Lewis,  as  well  as  Mr.  Benton, 
was  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Livingston, 
who  took  it  and  made  corrections  in  it,  and  when  it  was 
brought  back  to  General  Jackson,  the  General  positively 
refused  to  submit  to  any  corrections  being  made  in  the 
paper.  It  was  his  paper,  he  said,  and  it  must  go  as  he  had 
written  it.  These  two  papers  are  among  the  very  best  of 
all  his  papers,  and  they  furnish  sufficient  evidence  of  his 
power  and  capacity  to  write  —  or,  rather,  evidence  is  fur- 
nished that  they  were  both  written  by  Jackson  himself. 
These  two  papers,  with  the  paper  that  he  wrote  to  the 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Tennessee  when  he  was  out  in  the 
wilderness,  and  which  has  already  been  published  in  this 
book,  taken  together,  if  they  are  his  papers,  settle  forever 
his  ability  to  write  his  state  papers ;  and  that  the  attempt  to 
destroy  him  by  his  enemies  and  to  show  him  incapable  of 
writing  anything  is  groundless. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  emphasize  what  has  heretofore 
been  said,  that  in  the  opinion  of  the  author  the  letter  to  the 
Governor  written  in  the  wilderness  had  more  to  do  with 
making  history  and  removing  a  cloud  that  was  on  the  people 
of  this  country  than  any  one  paper  that  is  to  be  found  in 
our  history ;  in  other  words,  this  paper  made  a  new  map  — 
a  map  altogether  different  from  what  would  have  been  made 
in  our  political  history  if  it  had  not  been  written. 

In  addition,  such  a  voluminous  writer  was  he  that  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  preserved  and  kept  as  relics  by  the 
descendants  of  public  men  and  close  personal  friends,  may 
be  found  in  his  letters  —  all  in  the  same  bold,  strong,  Jack- 
son hand,  a  handwriting  no  more  to  be  mistaken  than  his 
picture.  *2e 


410  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

These  letters  cover  and  include  a  discussion  of  all  the 
public  questions  of  the  day,  and,  as  well,  business  matters, 
the  ties  and  obligations  of  friendship,  the  education  of 
training  children,  the  sorrows  and  afflictions  that  come  to 
the  home,  letters  written  to  public  men,  to  private  citizens, 
to  women  and  children.  General  Jackson  was  not  a  schol- 
arly man.  When  or  how  he  acquired  a  reasonably  good 
education  no  one  seems  to  know. 

The  facts  about  his  boyhood  life  which  are  known  are, 
that  he  was  born  after,  his  father  died ;  his  mother  died  in  a 
hospital  nursing  sick  soldiers  when  he  was  a  mere  boy;  an 
older  brother  was  killed  in  battle,  and  he  and  a  brother  older 
than  he  were  put  in  jail  by  the  British.  Both  took  the  small- 
pox. The  brother  died,  while  he  lingered  for  many  weeks, 
so  that  what  education  he  got  when  young  was  picked  up. 
I  am  sure  if  such  men  as  Schurz  and  Lodge,  freed  from 
prejudice,  had  looked  beyond  Parton  and  found  that  with 
his  rise  from  obscurity  to  the  exalted  place  he  reached  he 
had  cultivated  his  mind  and  gathered  information  until 
wisdom  in  its  broadest  sense  controlled  every  act  of  his  life, 
the  untruthful  criticism  would  have  found  no  place  in  their 
writings.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  that,  discarding  all  sec- 
tional prejudice  and  all  jealousy  between  the  victory  of 
science  and  the  victory  of  battle,  they,  even  they,  both  having 
reached  great  distinction  by  advantages  in  early  life  which 
but  few  men  have  had,  might  have  palliated  the  mistakes 
of  a  man  whose  birth  was  a  tragedy,  and  that  such  a  tragedy 
in  childhood  might  have  touched  a  tender  chord  in  the  heart 
of  a  German  philosopher  or  a  New  England  statesman. 

But  going  further,  and  seeing  that  this  fatherless  boy, 
when  his  country  was  in  direst  straits,  its  armies  beaten  on 
every  field  by  the  trained  soldiers  of  the  most  warlike  people 
in  the  world,  and  with  the  whole  press  of  England  denounc- 
ing us  as  cowards  ready  to  declare  war,  but  too  cowardly 
to  fight,  drew  his  sword,  called  his  neighbors  together,  they 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  411 

from  the  backwoods,  bringing  their  squirrel  guns,  and  gave 
the  word  of  command,  "Follow  me,"  and  sent  the  leaders 
of  the  invading  hosts  back  home  in  coffins,  sending  what 
was  left  of  the  army  back  with  orders  never  to  cross  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  again  with  guns  in  their  hands,  which  order 
they  have  respected,  it  seems  to  me  that  men  like  Schurz 
and  Lodge  might  have  had  a  kind  word  to  say  about  the 
Irish  boy,  even  if  he  did  misspell  words.  They  might  have 
had  a  pleasant  word  about  a  man  who  did  so  much  without 
education.  They  might  at  least  have  said,  What  would  he 
have  done  if  he  had  had  friends  to  educate  him?  They 
might  have  expressed  gratitude  for  the  punishment  he 
inflicted  on  an  enemy  who  had  shown  such  heartless  cruelty 
in  their  victories  over  the  armies  of  the  North.  They  might 
have  thanked  him  for  bringing  back  the  flag  the  British 
took  away  from  the  Capitol. 

There  is  another  view  that  Bishop  Potter,  Mr.  Schurz, 
and  Mr.  Lodge  might  have  taken.  There  is  no  dispute 
about  the  accomplishments  of  General  Jackson  in  social  life. 
It  was  not  only  the  French  lady  of  high  rank  who 
approached  the  backwoods  President  at  the  White  House 
with  trepedition,  and  left  it  in  ecstacies  at  meeting  the  most 
courtly  man  she  had  ever  seen.  It  was  not  only  the  accom- 
plished Mrs.  Livingston  who  said  to  lady  friends  when  her 
husband  sent  her  word  that  General  Jackson,  who  had  just 
arrived  in  the  city,  would  take  dinner,  "What  in  the  world 
shall  we  do  with  that  backwoods  general?"  and  when  he 
left  said  to  them  he  was  certainly  the  most  graceful  and 
agreeable  man  she  had  ever  seen.  But  of  all  the  public 
men  Tennessee  ever  gave  to  the  public  service,  Andrew 
Jackson  was  at  all  times  and  everywhere  recognized  as  the 
most  graceful  man  in  society.  Can  such  a  man  be  dethroned, 
after  having  fought  his  way  to  the  top,  by  careless  or 
unfriendly  writers  ?  Can  such  a  man  be  very  ignorant  ? 

There  is  another  view  that  might  have  been  taken.     Not- 


412  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

withstanding  Parton's  libelous  book,  Jackson  is  one  of  three 
men  whose  fame  grows  apace  with  time.  Washington, 
Jackson,  and  Lincoln  are  probably  the  only  names  that  will 
go  down  through  the  ages  growing  as  they  go.  More 
localities  have  been  named  for  Jackson  than  any  man  born 
in  America,  except  Washington. 

The  map  of  the  United  States  shows  the  popularity  of  our 
public  men  among  the  masses,  more  satisfactorily,  perhaps, 
than  by  any  other  means. 

The  name  of  Washington  appears  on  localities  198  times. 
The  name  of  Jackson  appears  191  times,  besides  about  forty 
places  in  the  United  States  named  "Hickory."  Franklin 
has  136,  Jefferson  no,  Monroe  91,  Madison  76,  Adams  64, 
Clay  42,  Lafayette  34,  Calhoun  16,  and  Webster  14.  This 
is  the  great  popular  favorite  that  Mr.  Parton  and  men  who 
carelessly  follow  him  are  writing  down  by  saying  he  cannot 
spell. 

When  this  work  is  completed,  I  shall  feel  it  to  be  neces- 
sary, in  vindication  of  General  Jackson's  reputation,  to  have 
lithographed  and  put  into  the  book  several  of  his  letters,  so 
that  people  who  read  may  determine  for  themselves  whether 
Jackson  was  the  ignorant  man  that  Parton  makes  him. 

I  have  before  me  now  an  interesting  original  letter  of 
about  five  hundred  words,  written  to  a  special  friend,  and  I 
make  this  quotation  from  it : 

"If  I  knew  where  to  address  William  Crawford,  I  would 
write  him  on  the  subject  of  Griffin's  debt,  and  that  of  his 
own.  Half  the  debt  being  relinquished,  William  ought  to 
pay  the  balance.  I  am  happy  to  find  you  have  determined 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  teacher  of  Andrew  to  the  subject 
of  his  writing.  Our  modern  mode  of  teaching  is  all  wrong. 
Formerly  the  child  was  taught  to  spell  and  read  well ;  then 
was  taught  arithmetic  and  to  write  well.  These  points 
gained,  the  grammar  and  geography  might  be  commenced 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  413 

with  advantage,  and  not  before.  Writing  is  mechanical, 
and,  unless  attended  to  when  young,  never  can  be  obtained 
afterward;  therefore,  as  it  is,  few  of  our  modern  scholars 
write  good  hands. 

"In  addition,  whilst  the  child  is  learning  the  art  of  writing 
well  and  arithmetic,  his  mind  is  expanding  and  preparing 
for  the  sciences  and  languages.  I  beg  you,  therefore,  to 
say  to  the  teacher  to  make  him  spend  every  day  at  least  one 
hour  in  writing.  I  shall  write  Andrew  soon." 

This  entire  letter  of  five  hundred  words  has  two  misspelled 
words  in  it;  the  punctuation  is  remarkably  good  for  the 
time,  and  for  a  man  like  Jackson,  that  had  scarcely  any 
advantage  of  education.  I  have  in  my  possession  nearly 
one  hundred  of  his  original  letters,  and,  take  him  all  in  all, 
he  is  in  every  respect  the  most  satisfactory  and  interesting 
letter-writer  of  all  our  public  men,  so  far  as  I  have  had  any 
observation. 

As  has  often  been  said  in  these  papers,  he  was  a  volumi- 
nous writer.  He  evidently  wrote  rapidly.  The  letters  are 
plain  and  distinct,  and  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  just  what 
was  said  about  his  ignorance,  I  have  examined  his  original 
letters  from  the  time  he  came  to  Tennessee,  or  at  least  one 
year  afterward,  1789,  down  to  the  year  of  his  death,  and 
there  is  one  most  interesting  feature  connected  with  his 
chirography. 

His  want  of  education  is  manifest  in  his  early  letters. 
The  strong  mind,  the  capacity  to  think,  is  found  in  his  let- 
ters of  an  earlier  date,  but  he  manifestly  lacked  words,  and 
was  in  other  respects  greatly  deficient  in  writing.  His 
letters  from  that  time  to  the  time  of  his  death  show  a  con- 
tinual growth,  and  he  reached  a  point  where  his  thoughts 
ran  ahead  of  his  pen,  though  he  was  a  rapid  writer,  and 
there  was  no  lack  of  words  to  express  his  language. 

More  clubs,  political  and  social,  commemorate  Jackson's 


414  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

services  by  taking  his  name  than  commemorate  all  the  others 
combined.  Not  a  year  passes  that  Jackson  clubs  are  not 
formed,  and  it  looks  as  if  every  city  in  the  Union  will  have 
a  Jackson  club.  More  than  Jefferson  or  any  other  man,  he 
is  the  founder  of  the  living  principles  of  one  of  the  great 
parties.  Whether  right  or  wrong,  while  all  other  men  slept, 
he  saw  the  cloud  rising,  not  bigger  than  a  man's  hand  —  the 
danger  of  money  combines.  The  fight  of  his  life,  one  that 
separated  him  from  friends  more  than  all  others,  was  made 
to  dissipate  and  scatter  the  forces  of  Federal  combines, 
realizing  in  its  incipiency  what  the  entire  country  now 
accepts  as  sound,  for  in  condemning  trusts  as  dangerous 
both  the  great  parties  recognize  his  wisdom. 

The  publication  of  General  Jackson's  correspondence  — 
public  and  private  letters  —  if  it  were  possible,  I  am  sure, 
would  produce  in  the  public  mind  a  sensation  as  strange  and 
pleasing  as  the  sunlight  that  drives  away  the  mist  of  the 
morning.  It  has  taken  several  centuries  to  put  England's 
greatest  soldier,  Cromwell,  before  the  world  as  he  was. 
This  need  not  be  with  America's  greatest  soldier.  The 
wrongs  done  him  by  deeply  prejudiced  biographers,  and 
those  who  carelessly  accept  error  for  truth,  are  palpable,  and 
the  proof  is  at  hand  and  in  many  forms. 

What  the  country  would  like  to  know  about  the  man  who, 
with  raw  troops,  gained  a  great  victory  over  an  army  made 
up  of  Wellington's  best  soldiers,  and  then  in  civil  life  led 
the  way  and  put  on  the  pages  of  American  history  the 
"Jacksonian  period,"  standing  out  in  full  view,  as  immov- 
able as  a  rock-ribbed  island  in  the  sea,  is,  what  was  he  as  a 
man,  a  citizen,  a  neighbor,  a  husband?  What  of  him  in 
his  private  relations  ?  What  of  his  obligations  to  his  fellow 
men?  What  of  his  education,  his  social  life,  his  religion? 
On  these  subjects  nothing  would  throw  so  much  light  as  his 
correspondence.  If  his  letters  could  be  gathered  up  by 
the  thousand,  they  would  be  a  revelation. 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  415 

Here  is  a  characteristic  letter,  an  original  letter,  now 
before  me,  written  to  a  young  girl,  the  daughter  of  his  dear 
friend,  General  Coffee,  written  when  he  was  President  and 
at  the  time  when  public  affairs  were  pressing  him  greatly. 

"Rip  RAPS,  August  15,  1833. 

" 'My  Dear  Mary:  Having  returned  to  this  spot  for  the 
benefit  of  my  health  by  sea  bathing,  and  to  get  free  from 
that  continued  bustle  with  which  I  am  always  surrounded 
in  Washington  and  elsewhere,  unless  when  I  shut  myself  up 
on  these  rocks.  I  did  not  receive  your  kind  and  affectionate 
letter  until  day  before  yesterday,  rehearsing  to  me  the  mel- 
ancholy bereavement  which  you  have  sustained  in  the  loss 
of  your  dear  father. 

"I  had  received  this  melancholy  and  distressing  intelli- 
gence by  sundry  letters  from  his  friends  who  surrounded 
him  in  his  last  moments. 

"It  is  true,  my  dear  Mary,  that  you  have  lost  an  affection- 
ate and  tender  father,  and  I  a  sincere  friend.  When  I  shook 
him  by  the  hand  in  Washington,  I  did  not  then  think  it  was 
the  last  adieu  to  a  dear  friend,  nor  would  I  have  taken  the 
trip  to  the  North  had  I  known  his  disease  was  approaching 
such  a  crisis ;  no,  Mary ;  had  I  been  advised  of  his  peril,  I 
should  have  hatsend  to  see  him  once  more  before  he  left  this 
troublesome  world  and  yielded  to  him  all  the  comfort  in  my 
power.  But  why  these  reflections?  He  is  gone  from  us 
and  we  cannot  recall  him.  We  must  follow  him,  for  he 
cannot  return  to  us,  and  it  becomes  our  duty  to  prepare  for 
this  event.  His  example  will  be  an  invaluable  legacy  to  his 
family,  and  his  dying  admonition  a  treasure,  if  adopted, 
beyond  all  price.  True  religion  is  calculated  to  make  us 
happy  not  only  in  this,  but  in  the  next  and  better  world,  and 
therefore  it  was  his  regret  that  he  had  not  joined  the  church. 
It  is  a  profitable  admonition  to  his  family,  that  they  may  all 
become  members  of  the  church  at  an  early  day,  for  it  is  in 
religion  alone  that  we  can  find  consolation  for  such  bereave- 
ments as  the  loss  of  our  dear  friend ;  it  is  religion  alone  that 
ever  gives  peace  to  us  here  and  happiness  beyond  the  grave ; 
it  is  religion  alone  that  can  support  us  in  our  declining 
years,  when  our  relish  is  lost  for  all  sublunary  enjoyments, 


416  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

and  all  things  are  seen  in  their  true  light  as  mere  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit.  Your  father's  admonition  on  his  dying 
bed  to  you  ought  to  be  cherished  by  you  all  and  practiced 
upon. 

"My  dear  Mary,  his  request  for  my  prayers  for  his  dear 
wife  and  children  will  be  bestowed  with  pleasure.  They 
will  be  constantly  offered  up  at  the  throne  of  grace  for  you 
all;  and  our  dear  Saviour  has  spoken  it,  'That  he  will  be 
a  father  to  the  fatherless  and  a  husband  to  the  widow/ 
Rely  on  his  promises;  they  are  faithful  and  true,  and  he 
will  bless  you  in  all  your  outgoings  and  incomings  and  in 
your  baskets  and  in  your  store.  Rely  upon  and  trust  in  His 
goodness  and  mercy  and  prepare  your  minds,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  your  dear  father,  always  to  be  ready  to  say  with 
heartfelt  resignation,  'May  the  Lord's  will  be  done.' 

"If  I  am  spared  to  next  spring,  and  my  health  will  permit, 
I  will  visit  your  dear  mother  and  mingle  my  tears  with  hers 
over  his  silent  grave;  till  then,  my  dear  Mary,  if  I  can  be 
of  any  service  to  her  and  the  family  in  any  way,  I  hope  you 
will  make  it  known  to-  me.  To  your  dear  mother  and  all 
the  family,  tender  my  blessing  for  their  health  and  happi- 
ness now  and  hereafter. 

"Emily  and  the  children,  with  Andrew  and  Sarah,  are 
with  me,  all  in  good  health,  and  all  join  me  in  best  wishes  to 
your  mother  and  the  family,  and  also  in  a  tender  of  our 
sincere  condolence  on  this  very  distressing  and  mournful 
occasion. 

"Major  Donelson  is  in  Tennessee;  we  left  him  in  Wash- 
ington, and  he  was  to  set  out  in  two  days  after  we  left,  and 
we  are  advised  he  did  so. 

"It  will  give  me  much  happiness  to  hear  from  your 
mother  and  the  family  often ;  do,  my  dear  Mary,  write  me 
occasionally.  Your  father,  whilst  living,  knew  the  deep 
interest  I  felt  in  everything  that  related  to  his  and  their 
welfare.  He  wrote  me  often,  and  except  from  him  and 
yourself,  I  have  not  received  a  line  from  any  of  our  connec- 
tion, except  announcing  the  death  of  your  dear  father,  for 
twelve  months.  Do  write  me  occasionally,  and  believe  me 
to  be,  with  the  highest  esteem,  your  affectionate  uncle, 

"ANDREW  JACKSON. 

"Miss  Mary  Coffee" 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  417 

In  an  old  diary  I  find  a  statement  made  by  James  M. 
Hamilton,  one  of  Nashville's  best  citizens,  who  died  some 
years  ago,  in  reference  to  a  visit  he  made  to  the  Hermitage 
after  General  Jackson  came  home  at  the  end  of  his  second 
presidential  term.  Mr.  Hamilton  was  then  a  boy  in  a  store 
in  Nashville,  and  was  sent  out  to  collect  a  bill  of  $3,000, 
which  the  General's  adopted  son  had  made  while  he  was 
President.  Mr.  Hamilton  shows  his  trepidation  and  dread 
of  meeting  the  man  that  had  been  pictured  to  him,  and  to 
collect  a  debt  which  he  supposed  would  develop  a  storm  that 
the  great  fighter  always  carried  about  with  him.  Here  is 
what  Mr.  Hamilton  says  took  place  when  he  showed  him 
the  bill,  but  which  was  after  a  reception  that  none  but  a 
great  man  could  give  a  timid  boy : 

"  'Let  me  see  it,  my  son' ;  and  he  reached  forth  his  long, 
slender  hand.  As  his  eyes  rested  on  item  after  item,  I 
eagerly  watched  the  expression  of  his  countenance.  No 
frown  of  displeasure  was  there,  but  simply  attention. 
Folding  the  paper,  he  slowly  said :  'This  is  a  large  bill.  My 
son  Andrew  is  a  good  man,  but  a  very  extravagant  one. 
I  see  many  things  here  he  could  have  done  without.  But, 
my  son,  I  will  pay  this  bill  on  one  condition.  It  is,  that 
your  employers  will  correct  mistakes,  should  there  be  any.' 

"I  assured  him  that  they  would  certainly  4p  so,  and  he 
requested  me  to  write  a  check  on  the  Planters'  Bank,  add- 
ing :  'My  son,  I  came  home  from  Washington  with  but  75 
cents  of  my  salary  left,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  kindness 
of  my  friend,  Francis  Blair,  in  lending  me  money,  I  would 
not  be  able  to  meet  these  obligations.' 

"I  had  never  written  a  check  and  had  no  form  with  me, 
but  I  did  the  best  I  could,  and  he  signed  it.  He  then 
requested  me  to  write  a  receipt.  Again  I  was  puzzled,  but 
I  did  the  best  I  could,  and  he  accepted  it. 

"I  arose  to  go.  He  invited  me  most  cordially  to  remain 
to  dinner.  I  was  too  much  delighted,  too  happy,  too  much 


418  LIFE  AND  TIMES  OF 

relieved,  to  think  of  such  a  thing.  I  longed  to  get  back  to 
the  store  and  show  them  all  my  check  and  tell  them  of  my 
success.  I  felt  a  wild,  boyish  admiration  for  the  great  man 
before  me,  and  I  wondered  how  any  one  could  be  so  wicked 
as  to  say  aught  disagreeable  of  him. 

"  'If  you  will  not  stay,  then  you  must  see  something  of 
the  Hermitage,'  he  said,  leading  the  way.  I  walked  beside 
him  about  the  grounds,  the  feeling  of  admiration  and  enthu- 
siasm all  the  while  in  my  heart  for  the  great,  tender-souled 
man  whose  guest  I  was.  As  we  neared  the  tomb  he  raised 
his  hand  and  pointing,  said:  'My  son,  there  lies  the  best 
woman  that  ever  lived.'  A  cloud  of  sadness  spread  over  his 
face,  and  the  expression  was  in  keeping  with  the  crepe  on 
his  hat  —  that  crepe  was  worn  the  rest  of  his  life. 

"  'George,'  he  called,  'show  Mr.  Hamilton  around  and  I 
will  await  him  here.'  I  was  shown  the  old  gray  war  horse, 
well  cared  for  in  his  stable  —  the  steed  hero  of  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans  —  and  also  the  carriage  which  was  made 
from  the  timbers  of  the  ship  Constitution,  and  in  which 
General  Jackson  rode  at  the  side  of  Mr.  VanBuren  from 
the  White  House  to  the  east  wing  of  the  Capitol  on  the 
occasion  of  the  inauguration  of  the  latter. 

"Returning,  I  found  the  ex-President  awaiting  me  at  the 
door.  As  I  took  leave  he  warmly  pressed  my  hand  and 
invited  me  to  visit  him,  saying  my  short  stay  under  his  roof 
had  given  him  a  great  deal  of  pleasure  —  that  when  he 
came  to  the  city  he  would  be  very  much  gratified  if  I  would 
seek  him  out  and  speak  to  him.  He  loved  his  young 
friends,  and  did  not  want  to  be  forgotten  by  them. 

"Jubilant,  I  mounted  my  horse  and  was  in  town  in  a  third 
of  the  time  it  took  me  to  go  to  the  Hermitage.  I  stopped 
not  to  hitch  the  horse,  but  dismounting,  ran  into  the  store, 
and  throwing  my  hat  high  in  the  air,  catching  it  as  it  came 
down,  I  enthusiastically  cried:  'Hurrah  for  General 
Jackson !  I  am  a  Jackson  man  now  and  forever.' 


ANDREW  JACKSON.  419 

"'Why,  what  in  the  world  is  the  matter?'  asked  Mr. 
West.  'I  thought  you  were  a  Clay  Whig.' 

"  'I  am  a  Jackson  man  now  and  forever.  Hurrah  for 
General  Jackson!'  I  reiterated  emphatically,  and  triumph- 
antly handed  him  the  check. 

"And  so  I  was.  I  never  failed  to  find  General  Jackson 
when  he  came  to  town,  always  meeting  with  the  same  cor- 
dial welcome.  The  magnetism  of  the  man  was  wonderful, 
and  his  warm  sympathy  and  noble  nature  made  him  friends 
and  held  them." 


9021 
OF  CALIFOR«U 

AT 
LOS  ANGELES 


University  of  CaUfonvia  Ubrary 


Kt. 


3  1158  00406  6204 


